A Beautiful Lie
by EmelyeUchiha
Summary: After Ritsuka goes through many trials of extreme pain, Soubi promises that he will never let anyone hurt Ritsuka again. But can Soubi keep that promise when he is the very person that will come to cause him so much pain? SoubiXRitsuka [Old story]
1. Night One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loveless, Yun Kouga does. I also do not own the song "A Beautiful Lie" by 30 Seconds to Mars.**

"Ritsuka… I _promise_, I will never let _anyone_ hurt you ever again…"

_Lie awake in bed at night, and think about your life. Do you want to be different? Try to let go of the truth. The battles of your youth. Cuz this is just a game. It's a beautiful lie. It's the perfect denial. Such a beautiful lie to believe in…_

'This is the fifth night in a row… that I haven't slept.' Ritsuka thought to himself, staring at the ceiling in his cold room. The window was open, and a cool breeze was blowing in on this November night. Ritsuka found it useless to keep his window shut anymore. Usually, the day it got shut, only a few hours later it would be open again, welcoming Soubi through it. Not like Ritsuka wanted him to come through it… every single day. Or so he thought. But for the past three nights, Ritsuka was unable to sleep. 'This isn't like the time before. When I would either sleep all day, or stay up all night. I really haven't gotten any rest at all for the past five nights. Is this dangerous?' he asked himself, 'It's not like I have any choice though…' he replied. Whenever he would attempt to sleep, thoughts would rush through his head, and wouldn't let him sleep at night. So Ritsuka had decided three nights ago, that sleep was useless. He looked at the clock, 'Only three?' he asked himself in his head. He closed his eyes, knowing good and well that it would get him nowhere. But when he closed his eyes, he was taken back to a few days ago…

_"Ritsuka…" Soubi whispered, as the two of them sat on a bench near a lake. It was sunset, and the sun was at just the right angle where it made the lake look as if it were glowing. Ritsuka had decided that this was his favorite place to be. There weren't many people near the lake that day, only four or five. "You know I love you right?" Soubi finished, then smiled. He had just felt like reminding the boy._

_"That's what you say…" Ritsuka informed him, and then added in a lower tone, but still audible enough for Soubi to hear, "… every single day." Soubi thought for a moment, contemplating what Ritsuka had just said,_

_" Do you get tired of hearing that?" Soubi asked him. Ritsuka blushed and stuttered out,_

_"W-when you say it two or three t-times a d-day I do…" he whispered slightly. But deep down he knew that every time those words left Soubi's mouth, his heart would do a turn. As much as he tried to deny it, Ritsuka knew, deep down in his gut, that part of him wanted to say, "I love you too." But Ritsuka knew not this feeling of love. Or so he believed._

_"So it's alright for me to say it at least once a day?" Soubi questioned him curiously. Soubi had picked up a habit of telling Ritsuka he loved him every day now. Without realizing it sometimes. He had just looked at the boy and saw how cute he was, and how h stumbled over his words all the time, and got so angry with him. He couldn't help himself._

_"I never s-said that!" Ritsuka half-yelled, tripping over his words once more._

_"But you never said I couldn't" Soubi smiled at the young boy, noticing him tripping over his words. Ritsuka was currently hauled up in a ball, with his legs against his chest, blushing madly._

_"W-well don't!" Ritsuka exclaimed._

_"Is that an order?" Soubi asked his Sacrifice._

_"Shut up!" Ritsuka got up and walked away in a quick pace. Soubi followed after, deciding not to bring it up again._

Ritsuka was still lying on his bed.

'Why do I say things like that if I'm only going to regret them later on? But telling Soubi to quit saying he loves me, is that really how I feel?' All of these thoughts were running through his head, while he still had his eyes closed, and he didn't even notice the soft patter of footsteps walking across his bedroom floor. And it was only when a pair of soft, warm lips were pressed against his own, that he opened his eyes. There stood Soubi, leaning over him. Ritsuka quickly balled up at the top of his bed, a bit startled to see him. "What are you doing here?" Ritsuka whispered angrily, "Don't you know it's…" he looked at the clock, "…4:30 in the morning!"

"Sorry… I had a dream about you…" Soubi replied grabbing the young boy, and holding him. Ritsuka struggled a little bit, and when Soubi wouldn't let go, Ritsuka just stopped. He let Soubi hold him. They were both still for a moment, Ritsuka still in his embrace, then in one swift movement, Ritsuka broke free. "I'm sorry for waking you up…" Soubi apologized, "you can go back to sleep now. I just needed to see you."

"Gladly!" Ritsuka told him profoundly as he thumped down against the bed, and covered himself up. Soubi got off of the bed. Ritsuka expected him to leave now, but Soubi, being well… Soubi, was always full of surprises. He didn't leave, he merely sat on the floor beside of Ritsuka's bed. Ritsuka was still and quiet for several minutes, and then came Soubi's voice,

"Ritsuka?" he whispered. Ritsuka didn't answer, "Are you asleep?" Still, he did not answer him. He heard Soubi get up.

'Finally…' Ritsuka thought, thinking Soubi was finally leaving. Then just a second later, Ritsuka felt a body lay next to him. Ritsuka soon found that he was getting sleepier and sleepier, 'But I wasn't sleepy at all a few minutes ago…' he thought, And as he heard the steady breathing of the man beside of him, he was almost asleep, but only before hearing four final words,

"Ritsuka, I love you…"


	2. Pleasure

**Disclaimer: I don't own Loveless. Yun Kouga does.** Here's the next chapter:

Ritsuka awoke the next morning to find his cell phone beeping. He looked at it. It was a text message, which read:  
We had a very _pleasurable_ time last night, don't you agree? –Soubi

'What does he mean by that?' Ritsuka thought, sighing. Then he started to panic. His hands when lightning fast up to his head, and he pulled on his ears a bit. 'My ears are still here though.' Ritsuka's mind raced all the way to school. Contemplating what to do, Ritsuka finally pulled out his phone.

Soubi's phone started beeping. He had been in the middle of an art project, painting what he thought a shinigami looked like. He reached for his phone, which was sitting on the ground next to him:

Pervert! What do you mean by that? –Ritsuka

Soubi smiled, and laughed a little bit, typing a message back. As soon as Ritsuka had gotten done typing the message, he raised his hand.

"Yes, Aoyagi-kun?" Miss Shinonome, Ritsuka's teacher, acknowledged him.

"May I use the restroom?" He asked her.

"Hurry back." She smiled, as Ritsuka got up out of his desk and headed down the hallway. Ritsuka was expecting an immediate answer from Soubi, and he didn't want his phone going off during class. He got to the bathroom, and about five minutes after he got there, his phone started to beep.

You mean you don't remember? That's too bad, it felt really good, you would have liked it. –Soubi

'The idiot.' Ritsuka thought, then said to himself, "Is he really that stupid?"

"Who?" came a voice beside of him. Ritsuka nearly jumped onto the sink. He looked over and saw Yayoi standing beside of him.

"N-no one." Ritsuka answered.

"Well, Miss. Shinonome sent me to get you. You've been in here for nearly ten minutes. He took the phone from Ritsuka. He read it, and his eyes got big, "What is Soubi talking about?"

"N-nothing!" Ritsuka grabbed his phone back, and quickly typed:  
Idiot! Do you really think I'll believe that? I still have my ears and tail. Don't text me again, I'm going back to class!

"Come on…"Ritsuka told his friend, heading out of the bathroom door and back to class, putting his phone in his pocket. He and Yayoi sat down at their desks. Ritsuka watched as Miss. Shinonome wrote the homework assignment on the board, then stared out the window. Everyone was fairly quiet. When Ritsuka's phone started to beep again. The whole class looked at him as well as the teacher.

"Who is it?" Yuiko whispered to him. Ritsuka was just about to read the message quickly before having to hand it over to Miss. Shinonome, but she took it before he could.

"I'm sorry, Aoyagi-kun, but I'll have to take this. It's school rules. But you can have it back t the end of the day, which luckily for you, is in an hour." She told him, slight hurt in her voice for having to take it. She glanced at the already flipped open phone.

Just because you still have your ears and tail, doesn't mean we couldn't have had a pleasurable time last night. –Soubi

Miss. Shinonome blushed madly, and looked up at Ritsuka. "Umm… yes. The umm… end of the hour, or umm I m-mean day, yes in an hour you can have it back." She stuttered, still blushing a deep red.

'Great…' Ritsuka thought, his ears bending down against his head, He could only imagine what the message could have said that mad Miss. Shinonome blush so badly. He had told Soubi plainly that he was going back to class, 'And what does the damn idiot do? He send another text message!' Ritsuka laid his head on the desk, as Yukio poked at him trying to get him to tell her who it was. He didn't really notice though, all he could think was, 'At least it's only an hour…' The last hour of school dragged on for what seemed like forever, and as soon as school was out, Ritsuka grabbed his phone off of the teacher's desk, "Miss. Shinonome, you should probably forget whatever nonsense Soubi wrote in that text message. None of it's true." He told her, reading the message for himself, as he sighed a heavy sigh. 'Idiot…' he thought. Yuiko and Yayoi followed him outside talking to him, asking him about the text message. Well, it was more Yuiko questioning him, as Yayoi stood by jealous, trying to explain to her that it was Soubi, but she was too busy asking Ritsuka to notice he was even saying anything. "That idiot…" he muttered under his breath for the third time.  
"Who? Soub-" but Yuiko was cut off as soon as the reached the sidewalk, and saw the man. "Oh, hi Soubi!" she looked up at him. He smiled at her.

"I'll see you tomorrow…" Ritsuka told his friends quietly.  
"Bye bye!" Yuiko yelled to the boy who was already down the sidewalk. Ritsuka and Soubi were oddly quiet for a minute, then when they were out of earshot of Yayoi and Yuiko, Ritsuka said,

"Ok, Soubi, explain. This is an order."

"What do you mean?" Soubi questioned.

"You know good and well what I mean!" Ritsuka blushed, "About all that text message nonsense!"

"Do you truly not remember last night?" Soubi smiled.

"I told you, I still have my ears and tail!" Ritsuka blushed a deeper read.

"You must have been asleep. I lay down beside of you, and held you for a while, then left before you work up. I thought you might've been awake when I laid down, but I was mistaken. It really felt good to hold you. I thought it was a _very_ pleasurable time." Soubi explained. Ritsuka thought back to last night. The last thing he remembered was Soubi lying down beside of him, before he drifted off to sleep.

"Rnnn…" Ritsuka whined in an annoyed tone.

"Ritsuka…" Soubi began. Ritsuka looked up at him. "How about we go to the pet store?" he smiled.

"Fine…" Ritsuka sighed.


	3. Small Black Ears

The next chapter! Yes, it's longer than the rest so far. I was going to write more, but then my hour was almost up. And I didn't want to have to wait until tomorrow to post it. So yea. And the phrase on down that says 'Speak softly, move slowly, touch gently' well at my Private school we have these things called PACE that was do our work in. And there was a little comic strip thing, and kids were going to visit a pet store for a field trip. And they got there and the place was called Pat's Pet Shop. And Pat, the owner tells all the kids "When buying a new put, you must speak softly, move slowly, and touch gently" laughed my ass off, and no one knew why. Am I a pervert? Oh, and thanks for all the reviews. I love you people.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Loveless. Yun Kouga does.**

'He's getting more tolerant of me these days.' Soubi thought to himself. He took Ritsuka's hand, but Ritsuka only pulled it away.

"And why did you text me after I told you I was going back to class?" Ritsuka asked a bit irritated.

"Sorry…" Soubi apologized.

"It's fine." Ritsuka told him as they walked on silently. After several minutes of the silence, Ritsuka said, "Miss. Shinonome read it."

"Read what?" Soubi questioned, looking down at Ritsuka.

"That last text message…" Ritsuka reminded him.

"Oh…" Soubi laughed. He could just imagine what Ritsuka's teacher had been thinking. Just as he did, they arrived at the pet store. They walked in, and the first cage they saw, had small black kittens in it. "Ritsuka…" Soubi said looking at the kittens.

"Hmm?" Ritsuka looked up from the cage at Soubi.

"This kitten reminds me of you…" he finished, pointing at the smallest kitten in the cage. It was in a corner by itself, resting peacefully. Ritsuka took his camera out of his bag, and snapped a picture of the kitten.

"There, now you can have a picture of it." Ritsuka told him, but Soubi had a better idea. Before Ritsuka even knew what was going on, Soubi was talking to the store manager, requesting the kitten. Ritsuka sighed.

"You're _getting_ the kitten?" Ritsuka asked him.

"Yes. Why, are you allergic?" Soubi asked, pausing.

"No… but aren't you going to get tired of cleaning up after it all the time?" Ritsuka wandered.

"No, because I love this kitten." Soubi had a serious look on his face.

'He apparently 'loves' everything with black ears…' Ritsuka thought frowning.

"Its name is Ritsuka…" Soubi told him, getting the kitten out of the cage. This seemed sort of planned to Ritsuka. The kitten looked up at Soubi with big black eyes. He paid for it, and they left.

"You're not going to be able to take it on the bus…" Ritsuka warned him. "And won't Kio be angry if you just bring a kitten home?"

"No…" Soubi answered plainly. "And it's okay if I walk. Are you coming too?"

"Yes…" Ritsuka said without thinking, he merely followed Soubi silently. A few minutes later while they were still walking, Ritsuka realized what Soubi had asked him. "No!" he said. Soubi looked at him questionably.

"No, what?" Soubi asked him.

"I'm not going to your apartment with you." Ritsuka stated firmly.

"You won't have to worry. Kio, Youji, and Natsuo are going to be there." Soubi assured him.

"And that makes it any better?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow.

"It's supposed to…" Soubi smiled. Then the conversation was no more, and Ritsuka still followed him, with no more complaints, except a simple reminder of his curfew at 6:00. Ritsuka had been to Soubi's apartment many times before. With just Soubi and Kio. And other times with Soubi, Kio, Youji, and Natsuo. So why did it feel so awkward now? Was it because of last night? Or all of those sleepless nights before that one? Ritsuka didn't know for sure. But even with that in mind, he followed Soubi through the door.

"You're home!" Kio jumped off of the couch, and lunged towards Soubi. He stopped in what seemed like mid-air when he saw Ritsuka. "What's _he_ doing here, Sou-chan?" Kio complained to his friend

"I invited him." Soubi stated.

"Pervert…" Kio muttered before sitting back down on the couch.

"I'm not a pervert, Kio…" Soubi told him for what seemed like the thousandth time, sitting down beside of him. Soubi noticed Ritsuka still standing, and motioned for him to sit beside of them. He did as told. There was no television, so they just sat there silently for a minute.

"I have an idea!" Soubi half-yelled, raising up, putting his hand dangerously close to Ritsuka's well… umm…

"What the Hell, Soubi!" Ritsuka stood up as well.

"I told you, he's a pervert…" Kio told Ritsuka as if he had warned him, then he stood up as well.

"Let's give Ritsuka a bath!" Soubi told them.

"Excused me?" Ritsuka looked dumbfounded. He had completely forgotten about the kitten until now, but Soubi picked the ball of fur up off of the floor and walked towards the bathroom.

"What's he talking about? It sounds fun." Kio stated.  
"And who's the pervert here?" Ritsuka asked angrily, but then got excited as he headed towards the bathroom as well. Soubi was already running the water.

"But won't he scratch us?" Ritsuka asked. Soubi smiled at his enthusiasm to wash the kitten. He could tell that Ritsuka wasn't around animals very often, but he knew enough to know that if you try to bathe a cat, it will scratch.

"If it trusts us it won't." Soubi replied. He carefully placed the kitten in the water, and it swam around very joyously. "We'll need kitten shampoo." He said, looking at Kio.

"And why are you looking at me?" Kio asked.

"The place is called Pat's Pet Shop. It has a sign outside the store that says 'buying a new pet can be fun. You must speak softly, move slowly, and touch gently." Soubi stated to his friend, laughing a bit as he recalled the sign.

"So, you're expecting me to get it?" he asked.

"Unless Youji or Natsuo can do it, yes. But we all know how that goes. They'll never be able to make it within 500 feet of the pet store." Soubi told him.

"They're gone anyway. Why don't you make Ritsuka go get it?" Kio questioned.

"Because he can't make it back in time. He's slower than you, and has a curfew at six. It's five right now, and he'll have to leave in about thirty minutes." Soubi explained. Kio sighed, but did as Soubi had said.

"Soubi, it should be ok to use regular shampoo." Ritsuka commented as soon as Kio left the bathroom, "He didn't have to go all the way there." The kitten was still swimming around merrily, and Soubi was silent. "Soubi?" Ritsuka said again, making sure he had heard him. Soubi's head was down, and his hair was covering his eyes. "Soubi?" Ritsuka moved towards him, wandering why he wasn't saying anything.

"Ritsuka…" Soubi whispered. Soubi looked up at him, and there were tears in his eyes. "You're going to die. So please wake up." Soubi warned him.

"Die? What are you talking about?" Was the last thing Ritsuka said before waking up. He was on Soubi's couch, covered up with a blanket, and it was dark out.


	4. Hospital

Thank you so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter:  
Modified Tam: I'm sorry the end was off. Feels bad. I was trying to make people freak out, and want to see what happens next. But thank you very much for reviewing. :)

SailorYue: I'm sorry the end was confusing. I was trying to make people freak out, and want to see what happens next. Thank you so much for reviewing. :)

Lovelessfreak: I'm really glad you like it. I've been really worried that they are out of character. At my school, I'll be secretly writing on it in class, and I'll say "Dang it!! Ritsuka wouldn't say that!!" like really loud, and my teacher thinks I'm on drugs. Lol. Thank you so much for reviewing. :)

LostHeaven: Oh my goodness. I was looking on your account. And you have 800 something reviews on one of your Naruto stories. I feel really happy to have someone as great as you review me. I'm glad you like my story. I hope this chapter is long enough. Yea, I wondered about calling it A Beautiful Lie, because the last time I named one of my stories off of a song/album title, someone got a bit aggravated at me because they wanted to post a story with that title. But I couldn't help it this time. I love the song "A Beautiful Lie", the lyrics went along with what I was going to write, and Jared Leto is sexy… which really has nothing to do with any of it. Thank you so much for reviewing. :)

Sylunedarkchylde: Heh… I'm not sure what to think about this. I know! runs to get a bucket. There, now, I'm sorry I melted you into a pile of goo. Lol. Thank you so much for reviewing. :)

Ladiabla666: Hmm… was it just a dream, or was it something more? You'll just have to find out in later chapters… OR you could figure it out on your own by finding the clues: The third letter in this website. The second letter in my favorite character from Kyo Kara Maoh's name. The last letter in the abbreviation of the second genre of this story. The first letter of the manga with it's second word as Orion. The First letter of the second word of the band's name who sings 'All that I've got.' The first letter of the first name of the star of The Omen, who plays Dameon. The fourth letter of the first word in the manga with a Shinigami named Rem in it. The first letter of my name on this website. The first letter of the manga/anime series with an alien girl names Ren in it. The first letter of the name of the main character with black hair in the manga Diabolo. The first letter of the anime series that is: '….. Lied.' The second letter of the name of the main faerie in 'Faeries' Landing.' The first letter of the word that means green in Japanese. If you decide to figure it out, please do not tell anyone who doesn't want to know. Thank you so much for your review. :)

* * *

"Soubi?" Ritsuka whispered, walking through the dark apartment.

"Yes?" Came Soubi's voice from behind him. Ritsuka yelled a bit. Soubi smiled at scaring him, for it wasn't his intention. Then the smile soon went away as he looked at the clock behind Ritsuka.

"What time is it?" Ritsuka asked frantically, but still a bit sleepily, as if reading Soubi's mind.

"It's 8:00." Soubi replied.

"Soubi, it's past my curfew! Why didn't you wake me up?!" he asked angrily, wincing as he felt something in his eyes. He rubbed at it, looking at his hand. There was what looked like blood, but he could hardly tell in the dark. It was running from his head.

"That's the exact reason." Soubi told him, rubbing the blood off of Ritsuka's face with his sleeve. "You slipped on water in the bathroom, hit your head, and passed out." Soubi explained. Ritsuka started heading quickly to the door without another word, and Soubi followed.

"I can make it myself…" There was a hint of worry in his voice. That was the last thing he needed, for Soubi to find out about his mother's beatings. He would turn her into the cops for sure, or worse… And he didn't want that to happen to his mother. Besides it wasn't like it was _her_ fault. All of these thoughts were going through his mind as he climbed aboard the bus. Little did he know that Soubi had been following him the whole time to make sure nothing happened to him on his way home. Ritsuka arrived home a short while later. The first words he heard as he walked through the door were,

"Ritsuka, where were you?" His mother came out of the kitchen holding a knife. "It's past 8:00…" tears came to her eyes. "I made you dinner, and this is the third time you've come home late this week."

"Mother, I'm sorry. My friend invited me over and we were washing his cat when I slipped on water and passed out. He didn't want to inconvenience you by bringing me home passed out, so he let me stay a while." Ritsuka explained slowly. She paused for a second, wrapping her arms around him.

"I was so worried…" she said, then suddenly swung her knife at him, gashing a big cut in his shoulder. It was soon seeping through his blue hoodie. He grabbed his shoulder.

"Mother, stop!"

"_My_ Ritsuka would never be late home. He was a well-behaved child!" Ritsuka's mother yelled, swinging the knife again, tears still streaming down her face. She hit him several times. Ritsuka had seen his mother mad before, but never like this. Then everything felt like it sort of stopped. His mother lay passed out on the floor, the knife still clenched in her hand. Ritsuka looked up from his mother and saw Soubi standing behind her, looking absolutely horrified. Ritsuka could barely think, and his blue jacket now looked purple over the whole sleeve, and part of the front.

"Ritsuka, quickly, go and wash off your wounds, or they might get infected." Soubi told him. Ritsuka didn't even know what to do. He didn't know whether to argue, to disagree, to do as he said, or what. But he somehow found himself walking to the bathroom, without even thinking. He got to the bathroom, and pulled off his hoodie and shirt, wincing as the cloth went over his shoulder wound. He went and found the peroxide in one of the cabinets, and closed his eyes as leaned over the tub. He then poured the peroxide down his shoulder. It stung… His shoulder cut started bubbling from the peroxide. He had used to like the way his cuts would bubble when he would put peroxide on them, but now he found he hated it. It continued to bleed though, he had to stop it. He wet a washcloth, daubing at his shoulder. He looked up into the mirror that was one the cabinet. He had dark shadows under his eyes, and blood splattered on his face. Then the mirror when blurry for a second, and he swayed a bit. Ritsuka, noticing how dizzy he was getting, quickly wrapped his should up with bandages. And only a few seconds later, the blood began to seep through the bandages. Ritsuka was freezing cold, he knew this because the next thing that happened was he hit the bathroom floor, and it felt slightly warm. Everything was blurry now, and he struggled to open the slightly ajar door.

"S… Soubi…" he managed to get out in an attempt to yell before he was unconscious.

_10 minutes before…_

"Ritsuka, quickly, go and wash off your wounds, or they might get infected." Soubi watched as Ritsuka went into the bathroom, the door slightly cracked. He took out his cell phone calling the police, carefully watching Ritsuka's mother to make sure she didn't wake up. After giving the police the information they needed, he snapped his phone shut, then opened it once more and called his apartment.

"Oi! Soubi where are you?" Natsuo answered.

"I'll be late." Was all that Soubi said.

"What? Where are you?" Natsuo asked over the other line, as Soubi heard Youji saying something in the background. (God knows what…)

"I'll explain later." Soubi said, then snapped shut his phone again, hearing his name being called, and leaving a very confused Natsuo. Soubi rushed to the bathroom from where he heard his name and discovered an unconscious Ritsuka laying on the bathroom floor, blood getting in his beautiful smooth dark hair, making it sticky and mat together as it slowly dried. Soubi's eyes widened as he picked up his Sacrifice carefully, applying pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding as he laid him on the couch. There was a knock on the door. Soubi, looking over at Ritsuka's mother to make sure she was still unconscious, answered the door. There was a police car, and two ambulances with some stretchers. They rushed in and took Ritsuka and his mother in the back of the trucks. 'I'll come back for you, Ritsuka…'

Soubi was now at the police station. He had ridden down in the police car to be questioned. He now sat in and enclosed room with now windows. Only bright lights above him, and a big table at which he was sitting. Across from him was the policeman who had been at the scene.

"Agatsuma Soubi is it?" The man asked him. Soubi had told the officer his name earlier, and the officer was confirming it.

"Yes." Soubi replied. The light above them flickering on his glasses.

"Everything said here will be recorded." The officer informed him, "So, what were you doing at the boy's house?"

"I'm a friend of Aoyagi Ritsuka. I was coming over for a visit when I heard his mother yelling and objects crashing, so naturally, I went in to see what was wrong." Soubi replied truthfully.

"And when you entered the home, what was it you saw?" he was asked. Soubi recalled to the man seeing Ritsuka's mother with the knife in her hand and seeing the big gash and other cuts on Ritsuka. This went on for a little while longer, Soubi being asked a few more questions then the officer said,

"Ok. That's all we'll need to know." He stood up and opened the door for Soubi. Soubi also got up and walked past the police officer, then turned around to face him.

"What do I have to do to go about getting custody of Ritsuka?" This was one of the only things on Soubi's mind right now. It _had_ been since he had seen Ritsuka, getting cut up by his mother. He didn't want Ritsuka to ever have to endure such pain again.

"We'll call social services to meet with you and the boy at the hospital. They should be able to get down there in about an hour. So you can head on down there as well." The officer explained, closing the door to the room behind him as he came out.

"Thank you." Soubi thanked the man, walking through a hallway towards the exit of the building. He was going to get to keep his Sacrifice. He knew he would. He had a more than stable enough home. (Or in his case, apartment) The only problem was: would Ritsuka want to live with him? Soubi didn't know for sure, he could only hope. He knew that Ritsuka was probably angry with him for what he had done to Ritsuka's mother. He would more than likely be angry for a while. But would it be so much that he would rather live in an orphanage than with Soubi? He had ridden a bus to the hospital, and was now at the front desk.

"I'm looking for Aoyagi Ritsuka's room." He told the receptionist. She typed quickly on her keyboard, and clicked her mouse a few times, then looked up at him with a smile.

"Floor 11, room 283." She replied, flashing her bright smile again. Soubi nodded, then walked toward the elevator that was nearby, pushing the 'up' arrow.

'Eleventh floor…room two eighty three.' He repeated back to himself in his head. The door finally opened and out stepped a tall man, taller than Soubi even, who had to bend his head down a bit so it wouldn't hit the entrance out of the elevator. He was a slender man who still had his ears. Soubi at once thought of Ritsuka's teacher, Miss. Shinonome, who also still had her ears, being twenty-three. The light purple (yes, purple) ears lightly brushed the top as he stepped out and went past Soubi. Soubi climbed aboard the elevator after him. He pushed '11.' Then he thought of his Sacrifice, who also still had his eras. Which was perfectly normal for a twelve-year-old. Then those thoughts led Soubi into wondering when Ritsuka's thirteenth birthday would be. When he would become a true teenager. (Or so they say.) But Soubi couldn't imagine Ritsuka being anything other than the twelve-year-old he was now. He was just unable to think of Ritsuka being sixteen, or even fifteen for that matter. Even when thinking about when Ritsuka would grow tall, (They both knew he would.) he could still only imagine a short Ritsuka with his cute ears perked out when he got angry, or flat against his head when he was sad. Which this led him to thinking about Ritsuka's ears again, and how he would look without them…that is if he ever lost them. But he would… Soubi _knew_ he would. And again as hard as Soubi tried, he couldn't imagine the boy without his ears and tail.

DING!  
This knocked Soubi out of his thoughts. He looked up at the number lit up at the top of the doorway. It read '11.' He climbed off of the elevator, and soon found Ritsuka's room number after a good five minutes of searching. He knocked lightly. Then realizing it still might've been hard for Ritsuka to talk, he let himself on in. There was a woman sitting in a chair across from Ritsuka's bed, looking all professional-like. He figured it was the social worker. Then he averted his eyes toward the bed, and the scrawny lump beneath the blankets. Ritsuka had a hospital top on, and his shoulder was stitched up. He had several bandages on his arms and face, but his face looked so beautiful despite the bandages. His dark hair stood out against the brightness of the light room. He noticed that Ritsuka's hair was no longer soaking in blood, nor was it matted together. He was glad for this. It would have hurt him deeply to see his poor Ritsuka in such a state.

"Well let's begin." The woman said. She hand dark brown hair that came down to her ankles, and eye liner on. "So Ritsuka, how long has this been going on with your mother?" The woman motioned for Soubi to have a seat beside of her. He did, and listened attentively, for he was curious as well as to how long Ritsuka had been enduring this pain. Ritsuka looked out of the window as the question, not really wishing to go over it right now. But he knew he had to.

"Around two years," he replied truthfully. "But it's not like she can help it, _I'm_ the one that makes her that way. I'm not who I'm supposed to be." Ritsuka faced the social worker, a look of sadness and anger in his eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked. He sighed, realizing he was about to tell some woman he didn't even know, two years of his life. He just made it short,

"When I was ten, I got amnesia." Ritsuka said quietly. "And after that I never acted the same as I did before I lost my memories. And it angers my mother. She wants the old Ritsuka to come back. It's my fault, so I don't blame her for it. There's no reason to." He finished, trying to make it as short as possible, staring out the window once again… TO BE CONTINUED

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Yes, I know I left it off really bad. But I'll try to update soon. Please review. You know, the more people that review, the more it makes me happy, and I want to write more. :D byes 


	5. Hospital pt2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Loveless, Yun Kouga does (This is x2 because i forgot my disclaimer in the last chapter)** I finally got my laptop back, so I'll be able to update more often.

"Well, Ritsuka, where do you presume to live if you're unable to stay with your mother anymore?" She asked him, intertwining her fingers together, and placing them on her lap. Ritsuka hadn't even thought of that. With everything going on, he didn't really have time to think about it. He had no other family, besides his father, but that was out of the question. Then he looked up and saw Soubi. He could very well go with him, but would he be able to admit to wanting to live with him? And would Soubi even want him there?

"I-I suppose I'll go wherever you want me to go." Ritsuka replied.

"Well how about ? Would you want to live with him?" The question went through Ritsuka like a bullet. So he was going to have to admit to it anyway, huh?

"If he w-wants me to." Ritsuka replied, trying to find the exact words to say without actually having to say he wanted to live with the man.

"But do _you_ want to?" she chuckled a little at Ritsuka's shyness. 'She found it funny!' The bitch found it funny...

"Sure, whatever!" Ritsuka got out quickly, then averted his eyes to the window again so he wouldn't have to see Soubi. But Soubi still saw him, and the blush creeping on his cheeks. He smiled, relieved that Ritsuka wasn't angry with him for his actions.

"Well then, , I'll need to speak with you out in the hallway." She told Soubi, rising up out of her chair, and going into the hallway as Soubi followed. She shut the door behind them and asked, "Do you believe you have a stable home for the child?" At this, Soubi smiled.

"I love Ritsuka. I would _never_ do anything to hurt him." Soubi told the truth. The woman smiled, obviously seeing his love for Ritsuka, which she believed to be a brotherly-like love.

"Alright, and have you ever had any experience in caring for a child?" She questioned. Soubi immediately thought of Youji and Natsuo, who had been living with him for a while now. Would someone consider that 'caring for'?

"Yes. I've taken care of children on many occasions. He answered. Soubi didn't plan on telling the social worker, or anyone else for that matter (if there was anyone _to_ tell) about Youji and Natsuo. For if she knew, he might not get to keep Ritsuka, especially with her knowing that Soubi had gotten them off of the street without trying to contact their parents. (Not like they had any anyway.)

"Alright. Do you have an extra bed?" she asked him.

"Yes." Soubi answered. Indeed, he had two beds, the one he slept on, and the one Youji and Natsuo shared... Soubi answered a few more questions, and it ended with him filling out some temporary care papers. He'd be able to adopt him fully later on, he was told.

"That you for your time, ." She said. As if it troubled Soubi to talk about Ritsuka for half an hour.

"Not at all." he smiled.

"We'll have someone come by your apartment one week from now to make sure your home is a suitable enough place for Ritsuka to be living in. Then we'll keep coming every mont or so until you get full custody of him." she explained carefully. Soubi nodded, then she left, her heels clacking against the cold hard floor of the hospital hallway. He watched as she climbed aboard the elevator, then he re-entered Ritsuka's room. The boy had fallen asleep. There were two IV's hooked into his arm. One for fluid, and the other for God-knows-what. Soubi sat down in front of Ritsuka's bed and watched his heart monitor screen.

"What did she say?" came Ritsuka's voice. Soubi looked down at him from the screen. 'So he wasn't asleep?'

"You're going to be able to stay with me." Soubi began, "They'll be by in about a week to make sure my apartment is a suitable enough home for you. We'll have to find a way to get Youji and Natsuo of the house that day, and make it seem like they're not living there, or I might not be able to keep you."

"They'll think you're a pedophile." Ritsuka said.

"Which is exactly why Youji and Natsuo will need to leave that day." Soubi admitted. Anyone who was to see a college student caring for three children not even into high school that wasn't his would think something was up. But of course maybe Soubi did have what they call 'pedophilia.'

"Before you came, my doctor said I have to be in here for at least another day. To make sure I'm alright, I lost a lot of blood, she said." Ritsuka finished, trying to look over at his cut shoulder with a bit of difficulty.

"Is there anything you want?" Soubi asked him. He was willing to go anywhere to get whatever Ritsuka wanted. But Ritsuka shook his head in decline, looking out the dark window. It was hard to tell that it was nighttime in a hospital, the place stayed so lit up all the time. Ritsuka seemed to like to look out of the window to clear his thoughts, Soubi noticed this. "Are you hungry?" Once again Ritsuka shook his head. But surely he had to be the slightest bit hungered. It was 3:00 am. Ritsuka thought back to the day before, he hadn't had any lunch. He had been up half the night, and was so groggy from lack of sleep that he had forgotten to take any. Then he hadn't had anything at Soubi's house, and when he got home the whole escapade had happened. So why was he not hungry? Ritsuka didn't know for sure. "Ritsuka, will you be ok while I leave for a moment?" This snapped Ritsuka out of his thinking. He averted his eyes from the window and to the blonde man, who was now standing. He had a cigarette in his mouth.

"Soubi! You can't smoke in a hospital, put it out!" Ritsuka half-yelled. He had completely missed the question, but soon recalled it. "I'll be fine." he said.

"I'll be back shortly." Soubi replied. He opened the door to Ritsuka's room, and just as he was about to leave, Ritsuka said,

"You'd better come back..." blushing. At this, Soubi smiled.

"I promise..." he replied, then left. 'Since when has a promise stopped him?' Ritsuka thought, then found his interest in the window yet again. Soubi was going down the elevator trying to think back to all of the times Ritsuka had eaten with him, which were very few. He was going to buy him some food whether he was hungry or not. He didn't want him to starve, and by the looks of Ritsuka's slim bony figure, it seemed as if he would any day. He had remembered offering Ritsuka food many times, but he often rejected his offer. Then he remembered once when it was 5:00 am, and he had snuck into Ritsuka's room. It was just the break of dawn, and he whisked the boy away (after much argument about it, of course) to eat breakfast with Kio and him. He remembered this time well because it was the time Ritsuka almost told Soubi that he loved him.

_FLASH BACK_

_"But Sou-chan, why bring him along?" Kio had whined at Soubi returning to his apartment with Ritsuka with him. Kio had woken Soubi up that morning at 3:30 am, insisting that they go out to eat for breakfast, when he had told Kio he had to do a bit of shopping before they left to eat, he had gotten Ritsuka instead._

_"Ritsuka has never eaten breakfast with me before." Soubi smiled at the boy, truly sorry for waking him up 'so damn early.' Or as Ritsuka had referred to it. Kio sighed and then complied with no more complaints. They had gone to a place with outside tables, like most places around town, and had eaten eggs. While Ritsuka had taken his first bite, Soubi had said,_

_"I love you, Ritsuka." Making said boy choke on his eggs, while Kio muttered 'pervert' under his breath._

_"I lov-." Ritsuka had almost said in response. His face got red immediately and he jumped up from his seat. He hadn't meant to say it... or so he believed...he was just so tired from it being 'so damn early.' That was it, that was the reason. It was total reflex and all sleepiness. He had his back turned from the two men, then he turned around. Kio's eyes looked like melons, and Soubi was smiling. Soubi was always smiling! Every time he messed up, every time he said something that he didn't mean... And this was one time, that Soubi remembered quite well._

_END FLASH BACK_

Soubi had gotten to the bottom floor, and walked through the hospital door. He was going to get Ritsuka...eggs.

There was a knock on Ritsuka's door.

"Ritsuka?" Came a voice, then Ritsuka realized shortly after, who's voice it was. Two young boys walked into the room. One with green hair, and one with brown. The one with brown ran up to him, "So, what happened?" Ritsuka's face went slightly angry. He didn't want to share his personal life with Youji and Natsuo. But it seemed like it was too far down the line to be deciding that. He'd be living with them every day from now on, they were bound to wander why.

"My mother attacked me." he told them, this time keeping his eyes away from the window.

"Rough. Are you alright?" Natsuo questioned, as Youji lifted Ritsuka's arm up, sending a sharp pain through it. He winced. And Youji placed it back down.

"Does it look like he's alright?" Youji asked Natsuo, laughing at his stupidity.

"I suppose not." Natsuo walked around over to where Youji was. "So where's Soubi? He abandon you?"

"Of course not!" Ritsuka told them. But of course, he couldn't be sure himself. For all he knew, Soubi could have gotten so angry at Ritsuka for not telling him about his mother, that he just decided to give up hope on his Sacrifice. "No, Soubi wouldn't do something like that..."

"I don't know... according to Kio, he was heartbroken over Seimei, but eventually got over that, after you came along, of course. So how can you be sure that he didn't get tired with you?" Youji asked. Natsuo and himself both knew that he was joking, but Ritsuka didn't take it so lightly. After all that had happened to him that night, and now they were here making him feel worse. Ritsuka's head went down, and his nags covered his eyes.

"You're probably right... everyone else gave up on me. Seimei gave up on me...he died. Mother gave up on me, on the real Ritsuka coming back. Why wouldn't Soubi?" he muttered to them. Now they started to feel a bit bad with themselves. And as soon as they were about to tell Ritsuka they were only joking a voice from the door said,

"Because I love you..." Ritsuka swiftly looked up to where the voice came from, recognizing it at once. Ritsuka's eyes were _almost _on the verge of looking teary, until he saw soubi standing before him. "Because I love you, Ritsuka." Soubi set his bag he hand in hand down on a chair and walked to Ritsuka, taking his face in his hand, and kissing him gently. "And that will never change." he whispered, the tears about to form in Ritsuka's eyes were slowly going away.

"We were only joking Soubi." Natsuo smiled. But Soubi had nothing to say to the boys at this moment. He walked to his bag sitting in the chair and pulled out a small box. He pulled a food table (A/N: Yea, you know the one's...) over Ritsuka and placed the box on it.

"I brought you food, Ritsuka." he smiled. Ritsuka lifted himself up with a lot of difficulty and opened the box. There he saw eggs. He was immediately brought back to the same day Soubi had thought of earlier. He almost choked just thinking about it.

"Where did you get eggs at 3:30 in the morning?" Ritsuka said, trying to avoid all possible eye contact with Soubi.

"Don't worry about that. Just eat, you need your strength up." Soubi told him.

"Why is that? I'm not going to be out of here for another day, I don't need any strength." Ritsuka replied truthfully.

"Yes, but you also need food to rebuilt your lost blood." Soubi mentioned, by this time Youji and Natsuo were already gone without their acknowledgment. This was one thing Ritsuka couldn't deny. So he took a piece and tried it. It was actually...pretty good for 3:30 am eggs. "I love you." At this, Ritsuka almost choked...once again. Oh no, he wasn't going to fall for that this time. He was wide awake.

"Thank you..." Ritsuka said. It took him a few seconds before he realized what he just said, then added, "Uh... um... for the eggs." Soubi smiled. He was happy to see Ritsuka in a good mood, even after all the events that had gone on.

Ritsuka had gotten what little sleep he could that night, what with his aching shoulder, his stomach full of 3:30 eggs, (That was their new name) and Soubi gazing at him half the night, or should I say morning. He had finally gotten to sleep at around 5:00am, and it was now 9:00am that he had woken up to the sound of his nurse changing his fluid.

"Sorry to wake you." she whispered to him with an apologetic look on her face. Ritsuka paying hardly any attention, but merely looked across from him at Soubi who was...sleeping?! Soubi slept? Apparently so, because his face was calm looking and he was slipping out of the chair he was sitting in. This put Ritsuka in a bit of a childish mood as he felt he should draw something on Soubi's face. And the only thin g keeping him from it was a lack of marker and the IV's he was connected to that immobilized him from getting up. Plus, he still didn't know how weak he was, and if he could even _get_ up. He was going to be able to go home tonight... Ritsuka was so relieved. It wasn't that he didn't like hospitals, it was just that he didn't want to stay in one forever. It was boring and there was nothing to do. Plus, he seriously wanted to change pants. He didn't have to worry about a top, the hospital made him wear theirs, but he had been wearing the same jeans since yesterday. Ritsuka suddenly felt something on his hand, which made him jump. He had been so worked up in thoughts, which seemed to happen quite frequently, that he hd not noticed Soubi awaken and come to his side. Soubi's hand was on his.

"Are you hungry?" were the first words out of Soubi's mouth to the boy. 'Why does he always think about me being hungry? Do I look hungry all the time?' Ritsuka wondered to himself as he shook his head no.

"I want to change pants though, and there's nothing I can do about it." he decided to tell him. There was nothing Soubi could do about it either, so what was the hurt?

"I'll go to your house and pick up some clothes for you, Ritsuka." Soubi told his, heading for the door.

"That's not what I meant! I'm going to be out of here tonight, I'll be fine until then." This was true, he didn't necessarily _need _to change clothes right now, he could wait a bit. But Soubi still insisted. He left Ritsuka's room once more. "He never listens... I thought that I was the one to give orders?" he said to himself. He sighed a deep sigh and then a thought came to his mind, "How's he going to get in?" Then the thought settled down as he remembered all the times before when Soubi had 'broken in' through Ritsuka's window. Arriving at the house seemed so different from all of the other times Soubi had been there. It was the same house, in the same place, same color, everything. But it seemed so different. Ritsuka would never live in this house again, and Soubi felt a bit guilty for taking him away from it. He was very relieved that Ritsuka wouldn't have to endure such pain anymore, but just taking him away from the place he grew up in, with his brother, it made him feel a bit bad. He had just gotten into Ritsuka's room and he saw his phone sitting on his bed. He made a mental note to get it for him before he left. Not that he would need it much from now on anyway. He found where Ritsuka kept his clothing and got him clean clothes, he didn't need to take it all, they could always go and buy more for him. He imagined having to go in the little boys department with Ritsuka. Sure, he was twelve and all, but he was so skinny that he could probably wear the smaller boys' clothing. But getting this out of his mind, he set back out to take Ritsuka's clothes to him. When he arrived back at Ritsuka's room, he found him asleep. 'He's had a pretty rough time, I'll let him sleep.' He sat down in his usual chair, then an idea came to him. How was Ritsuka going to change clothes if he couldn't get up? He was going to fix that! So Soubi took Ritsuka's pants from out of the seat beside of him, where he had set them. He quietly walked up to Ritsuka's bed and pulled the blanket down and slowly started to un-zip Ritsuka's pants. But just as he was about to pull them down,

"Um...excuse me?" A nurse at the door said. She was blushing wildly and giving Soubi the weirdest look he had ever seen. "I've come to remove Aoyagi's fluids. The uhh... doctor said he didn't have to be on them anymore..." she paused still glaring at Soubi, who was smiling as if nothing were going on, "Should I, um... come back?" she was almost afraid to ask.

"No, you can proceed." Soubi stepped away from the boy, whom despite all that had just happened, was still asleep. She took him off of his fluids, taking his IV out, and he woke up.

"Huh? Soubi, you're back?" he asked the man. Soubi nodded. The nurse blushed once more, and quickly finished what she was doing and left the room. Ritsuka watched her, wondering what was going on. He raised up a bit from laying down, and he felt his pants start to fall down. He lifted the blanket up that Soubi had put back over him, and saw that his pants her un-zipped and falling down. He immediately looked up at Soubi. Soubi only smiled and stood up, putting Ritsuka's clothing on where the boy could reach it. He wasn't on his IV anymore. So we was able to stand up to change in the bathroom.

"I won't ask." Ritsuka closed his eyes with a slightly angered look on his face. He got off of the bed and almost stumbled from not having stood in so long. It felt good to be back on his feet again though. As Ritsuka shut the bathroom door behind him, Soubi noticed a small trail of crimson red blood droplets leading from Ritsuka's bed to the bathroom door. At first he thought nothing of it, because they were only small drops, and weren't frequent, they were actually quite a bit apart, but still the fact that he bled through his bandages enough that the blood did splatter on the ground, no matter how tiny, worried him. Plus the fact that Ritsuka had been in the bathroom a well over ten minutes.

"Are you alright, Ritsuka?" Soubi asked him through the other side of the bathroom door. There was no response. He knocked on the door lightly, still nothing. He knocked on it a bit harder this time, and finally Ritsuka replied,

"Sorry." Soubi got a bit worried, but then Ritsuka continued, "I fell asleep." He came out of the door with new clothes on.

"Should I get your nurse to bandage you up again?" Soubi wondered.

"No, you've already scared her enough today. I can do it. Besides, it stopped bleeding anyway." he yawned. Soubi admired how irresistible Ritsuka looked when he yawned. So childish and cute. Ritsuka slept through pretty much the rest of the time he was there, if not sleeping, then eating against his will. He had told Soubi that he didn't like hospital food, but he really had no problem with it. So Soubi had gone and bought him food. Then finally, Ritsuka was released to go home...to his new home.


	6. A Bit of Alcohol Never Hurt

**Disclaimer: Don't own Loveless, but would anyone really sue me if I said that I did?**

Wow, I go through so many moods of anime, it's hard to write because I can't stay on Loveless. One day I'm all "Kyoukaramaoukyoukaramaoukyoukaramaou!!!" and another day I'm like, "Deathnotedeathnotedeathnote!!!" and then I get in a "Lovelesslovelessloveless!!!" mood, and I'm able to write. I usually have to watch the anime or read some of the book to try and force myself to get in a Loveless mood so that I won't keep you guys waiting forever. I'm currently watching the anime, so thank the dude that produced the anime, whoever the crap he is. Thanks for the reviews:  
Dipilidopa: Heh, thanks for the info. Much appreciated. I found out that guys can get raped though, I watched Yami no Matsuei. Thanks for the review:)

asara kaden: Thanks so much. I was exremely afraid people were going to hate this because it was so similar to 'one without love no more' but now you've reassured me it's not _exactly_ like it. Thanks for the review:)

stardragon12: Here's the update. Sorry it wasn't very soon. I've been really busy with school lately, but I've already started writing ont he next chapter, so it should be out sooner than this one was. Thanks for the review:)

LostHeaven: Well thank you very much for adding this story to your favorites. I appreciate it very much. This chapter has alot of Youji and Natsuo and their sly ways. lol, you should like the end of this chapter. Thanks for the review:)

Sasskitten: Well Alice, (that's your name right? lol) I've finally updated! You have updated your extremely long chapters of The Seven Tasks, like what 2 or 3 times since the last chapter of my story, and I'm just now getting to mine. I hope you update soon on yours again. Thanks for the 2 reviews:)

Naikoru: Thanks so much! I'll try to update soon again. Thanks for the review:)

Blaskstar Angel: Thank you so much! Yea, it took me a bit, but here's the next chapter. I promise the next chapter will be up sooner than this one was. Thanks for the review:)

* * *

_So beautiful, beautiful it makes me. It's time to forget abut the past, to wash away what happened last. Hide behind that empty face, don't ask too much, just say. Cuz this is just a game. It's a beautiful lie..._

Soubi and Ritsuka arrived home at around 11:00 that night to find Youji and Natsuo asleep on their bed, all tangled up.

"Are _you_ sleepy." Were the first words out of Soubi's mouth as they saw the two boys. But of course Ritsuka wouldn't be sleepy, he had been sleeping nearly the whole day. Soubi got an idea. "So, would you like to sleep with me, or Youji and Natsuo?" Ritsuka almost fell over. 'He has to do that...' he thought to himself, cursing Soubi in his head.

"I- I can sleep on the couch until we figure s-something out." he stuttered. But Soubi would not accept Ritsuka sleeping on the uncomfortable cold couch. No he wouldn't!

"I'll take the couch." Soubi gave in. He had decided that Ritsuka had had enough going on without him being embarrassed by Soubi, which he knew it did. They both knew.

"I can sleep on the couch! I'm not going to take your bed away from you..." Ritsuka admitted. He was starting to miss the hospital window. But Soubi had already climbed onto the couch before Ritsuka could claim it. "I'm not sleepy anyway..." Ritsuka told him. He was sick of laying down, he wanted to walk around or go somewhere. "Hey, I have school tomorrow you know, so I'm going to be gone early in the morning." Soubi raised up off of the couch.

"Will it not bother you to go to school with your arm like that?" Soubi questioned him. Ritsuka had nearly forgotten about his arm. He knew it wouldn't be safe to go to school with his arm like that. It could start bleeding again at any time, questions would be raised (of course there would be more questions if he missed long enough to let his arm heal up good) Ritsuka had just decided he would go to school anyway, he had already explained things to enough people, two more wouldn't matter that much. Yuiko and Yayoi wouldn't spread rumor about him, he knew that.

"No." Ritsuka finally answered the man, who was laying back down again. That started to piss Ritsuka off. He wasn't going to take Soubi's bed away from him, and he sure as hell wasn't going to sleep with Youji and Natsuo. Suddenly, a very childish idea came into his head, and before he could stop the idea, he found himself pouncing upon Soubi, coming face-to-face with him. "Give me the couch..." Ritsuka had a slightly angry, but cute look on his face. "...now." Soubi reached up and kissed Ritsuka, which brought him back to his senses. He quickly jumped off of Soubi and went straight to the man's room. There would be no more arguing, Ritsuka simply gave in. He plopped himself onto the big bed and sighed. 'What made me do that?' And then another thought came into his mind, 'I really need a bath...' He slowly raised off of the big bed. Ritsuka was thankful that the bed wasn't a squeaky one, for he wanted to get to the bathroom unnoticed. He, very quietly, walked towards the door and then BUMP. He hit the ground, and what was worse was he hit his shoulder on the wall on the way down. He grabbed his shoulder in pain, already feeling the blood start to come again. He looked down at what he had tripped over. It was...Ritsuka? He had tripped over Soubi's kitten Ritsuka. He wondered how the kitten got in the room, for he had shut the door on his way in, but then he realized the kitten must have already been there when he came in. Not even ten seconds after Ritsuka had tripped, Soubi rushed into the room to see what the commotion was.

"Ritsuka? Are you alright?" Soubi asked him, bending down to where Ritsuka was. It was dark in the room, but he could still vaguely make out where the boy way lying. He reached his hand out to help him up, and his hand gently touched Ritsuka's shoulder when he did. It was then he felt his hand was wet. 'Blood?' Was Soubi's first thought, and he quickly felt around for Ritsuka's body and picked him up.

"S-Soubi?" Ritsuka asked. He wasn't able to see the man any better than Soubi could see him. He rushed to the bathroom with him and swiftly turned the light on, illuminating the room. He put Ritsuka down onto the floor.

"Your shoulder is bleeding..." Soubi stated the obvious.

"I-I was getting up to take a bath and I tripped over your kitten. When I fell, my shoulder must've hit the wall..." Ritsuka explained to the man, not wanting to worry him in the least bit. Soubi worried enough over him, without having to worry about his shoulder bleeding a little.

"What was that noise? You woke us up..."Youji's voice came from the doorway of the bathroom. He was rubbing his eyes, not used to the bright light after just have been asleep seconds ago. Natsuo was standing beside of his Sacrifice, holding his hand, doing the same thing that Youji was doing, for he too was not used to the light.

"It's nothing, you can go back to sleep..." Soubi assured them. They were about to head back to bed when Natsuo noticed Ritsuka.

"Oi, what's Ritsuka doing here? And so late at night?" Natsuo asked.

"Oh, wait until Kio hears about this!" Youji laughed. Natsuo was drawn into the bathroom. He walked over to Ritsuka and looked at his shoulder.

"You're out of the hospital? Why didn't you go back home?" he asked the boy.

"I can't exactly go home, did I not tell you about my mother already?" Ritsuka looked a bit angered, for he knew he had told the two boys about it, and it started to bother him because he now figured they weren't even listening.

"Oh, well why are you here? Don't you have other family?" Youji was drawn into the room, and now was standing alongside Natsuo.

"Ritsuka is going to be living here from now on." Soubi told the two. They both got the most surprised look Ritsuka, or even Soubi for that matter, had ever seen on the two.

"Kio was right, Soubi's a pervert..." Youji commented and walked out of the bathroom followed by Natsuo who was nodding his head in agreement. Soubi was now standing up, looking for bandages. As soon he found them, he slowly un-wrapped Ritsuka's bloodied bandages, not wanting to hurt his shoulder more than it already was. The blood on the bandages was starting to dry, and sticking to his wound so when Soubi was pulling it off, Ritsuka was in pain. Why was there so much pain in his life? 'Pain and lies, that's what my life mainly consists of...' Ritsuka thought, looking at the bathroom floor. He had barely noticed Soubi, who was putting peroxide on his wound. 'That hurts too, but not as bad as other things...'

"You should have just told me that you wanted a bath." Soubi smiled at him. It wasn't until after he put the peroxide on Ritsuka that Soubi remembered that the boy told him about wanting to take a bath. The peroxide seemed pretty pointless now. "You wouldn't have known how to work the knobs in the tub anyway." Soubi was now sitting on the edge of the bath, maneuvering with the knobs to run some water. "Come here." Now Ritsuka was feeling a bit uneasy. But he did as told, and walked over to where the man was sitting. Soubi took his hand and put it under the water. "Is that too hot?" Soubi was looking at Ritsuka straight in the face. And Ritsuka found that for some reason he was looking straight at him back. He could feel himself blushing and had almost missed Soubi's question, but caught it quickly.

"N-no." he replied trying to pull his hand away from Soubi's, which was still under the warm water. They were still just staring at each other. Ritsuka wanted to move, he was telling himself to stop. But he just couldn't. He couldn't control that his eyes were slowly closing and he couldn't control that his lips were ever creeping towards Soubi's own. The two were less than and inch apart when Soubi quickly pressed their lips together. Ritsuka seemed to not even notice this. He started to kiss him back when he realized what was going on. He couldn't do this! 'N-not now!' he thought to himself and swiftly pulled away and ran out of the bathroom. He wasn't even sure where he was going, but he knew that he needed to lay down, or he was going to faint. He fell back onto a bed, not even noticing the two boys beside of him, awakening to the sudden jolt. Natsuo was the first to wake up, but he was so groggy that he couldn't tell what was going on. He saw a blurry figure beside of him that was Ritsuka, and immediately clung to it. Ritsuka, on the other hand, was panting hard, and had his eyes closed. He wasn't even sure of what was going on. Had he just _kissed _Soubi? No...Soubi had kissed him? He wasn't really sure, but he knew one thing: he was now extremely worn out. Ritsuka rolled over and faced Natsuo. Ritsuka's eyes were still closed, and his hand was now on his head, covering his eyes. And not even a second later, he was asleep.

"Soubi! Soubi I have to tell you something!" Ritsuka was yelling. He couldn't figure out why, but it was extremely loud.

"I can't hear you!" Soubi yelled back. He needed to reach him, but he couldn't. Every time he stepped forward to go to Soubi, he would feel pain all over his body. "Ritsuka!!" The pain was too immense to stand...

Ritsuka woke up panting once again. His body still felt like it was aching. That had indeed, he decided, been one of the worst dreams he had ever had. He never wanted to feel like that again. Longing so much to tell Soubi what was on his mind, but every step he took toward the man brought more pain. Throughout his whole body was pain, unexplainable pain. Ritsuka started to rise up, but found he couldn't. Something, or rather, some_one_ was clinging to his arm. (The one that wasn't injured) He looked down to see Natsuo holding tightly onto his arm. He had his eyes closed and a very tranquil look on his face. Next to him was Youji, who was clinging tightly to Natsuo's torso, with his face into Natsuo's back. Ritsuka yanked his arm away from the sleeping boy and got off of the bed. As soon as he did, all of the happenings of the previous night came back to him, and he almost fell back down. He started to calm down though. 'Soubi kisses me all the time. I-I mean, it's not like it's any different from any other time.' he tried to reassure himself in his mind. It was at this time he acknowledged that his arm had no bandages on it. He had recalled Soubi taking them off and putting peroxide on his cut, but he hadn't re-wrapped his arm, for he was planning on taking a bath...which never happened. Ritsuka resolved that he would take one now that he knew how to work the knobs without Soubi's help.

Ritsuka was feeling a lot better now that he was getting clean. He sat in the warm tub full of water...and bubbles. He closed his eyes, taking in the warmth of the liquid. SPLASH! Ritsuka swiftly sat up, feeling something climb into the tub with him. His legs were up to his chest, and his arms around his shins and he saw a small black kitten swimming around in the water across from him.

"You're always here when I don't need you..." Ritsuka told the smaller Ritsuka, petting him. "You really seem to like the water, don't you? That's odd for a cat, you know." The kitten mewed, (A/N: Or should I say 'nyaa'd lol) and Ritsuka picked him up, sinking back down into the water. The kitten was soaked and Ritsuka put him atop of his chest. Kitten Ritsuka stared right into human Ritsuka's eyes. Indigo meeting green. "You're a lot of trouble, but I guess I've got to deal with that from now on, huh?" There was a low knock on the bathroom door. "W-what?!"

"Are you talking to someone, Ritsuka?" Came Soubi's soft soothing voice from the door.

"No. I'm talking to your kitten. He...he followed me in here." Ritsuka replied. Soubi was silent for a minute and then answered,

"Aren't you going to school? I thought you said you-." Ritsuka quickly jumped out of the tub and found a towel, wrapping it around himself. The kitten, who didn't know _what_ in the world was going on shook the water off of him such as a dog would do. He bounded out of the bathroom door. Soubi had already stepped back, prepared for this.

"Whydidn'tyouwakemeupwhattimeisitwherearemyclothes?" Everything came out of Ritsuka's mouth so quickly, Soubi was unsure of how to answer. But he didn't have to, Ritsuka, instead, just ran into Soubi's room in search of his clothes. Kitten Ritsuka walked slowly through the bathroom door, still soaked. Soubi picked him up.

"My Ritsuka is all wet..." he muttered to the kitten, patting his head a bit and putting him back down onto the floor. Human Ritsuka came back nearly ten seconds after he had went off. He was holding his clothes this time, still wrapped in the towel. His hair was dripping onto Soubi's carpet, but Soubi didn't mind.

"I need bandages..." Ritsuka told the man.

"Isn't it a bit late for going to school? Why don't you just stay home today and go tomorrow?" Soubi suggested to the dripping boy. Ritsuka just stared back at him with a cute angry face as if saying 'no' without even having to speak. "Besides," Soubi started, "Kio is coming over today. You should stay and see our paintings." Ritsuka kept that same look on his face, but then sighed. His tensed up body settled down.

"Fine." Ritsuka finally complied, "But only today!" He started to walk into the bathroom to change into his clothing. "I'm still going to need bandages though." he paused, "And I can wrap them on my own." And that he did, after Soubi had gotten them out for him. Soubi waited patiently for him outside of the bathroom door until he had decided that he would wake Youji and Natsuo up. He got several blunt objects and pillows thrown at him for this too.

"I want to go to the store." Soubi told the two boys.

"Why did we need woken up for that?" Youji was asking Soubi. He and Natsuo were sitting in the middle of the bed, their hair all messed up from sleeping.

"I thought you might've needed to go. Since you two can't go on your own anymore, so I was giving you a chance to go now." Soubi explained to them. He could recall clearly the day they had been banned from the store they went to often. (A/N: This store is sort of like a walmart in our case) Nearly every time they had went in the store they caused trouble for other customers by bothering them and putting foreign objects into other people's carts. They had finally one day gotten banned from coming to that store without an adult to supervise them. Natsuo had suddenly gotten a very mischievous look on his face and looked at his Sacrifice.

"Yea, we need to go." Natsuo answered Soubi smiling. Ritsuka now come into the room.

"What's going on?" he asked looking at the three of them. Youji and Natsuo, who were smiling wide smiles and Soubi, who just looked like...well, Soubi.

"We're going to go to the store today, Ritsuka." Soubi replied.

"When?"

"Now." Came the answer from Youji, who was ushering the two of them out of the room. "Let us change and we'll meet you outside." The door was slightly slammed behind Soubi and Ritsuka, then they heard snickering.

They were now on the way to the store. It was snowing outside, and Ritsuka was shivering a bit.

"You cold?" Natsuo came up beside of him smiling. Ritsuka shook his head no. "Youji and me can't feel it. But it's not all that great not being able to feel the cold. We could freeze to death without even knowing." Ritsuka thought about this. How it would feel to be in the freezing cold, but not feel a thing. But then he realized how similar he was to that. Yes, he felt the cold and the heat. But with him, he was surrounded by people who loved him, but he couldn't feel that love back. For he is Loveless, one without love. Everyone was silent for a while, and then Ritsuka slowed down a bit, and then came to a stop after a few seconds, while Soubi, Youji, and Natsuo kept walking. He hadn't meant to stop so abruptly, he was just noticing the snow. It looked so beautiful falling from the sky, like it was coming from out of no where, or an endless abyss. Then he started to wonder, 'Maybe it _is_ an endless abyss up there...' Soubi now noticed that Ritsuka was no longer following behind them. He looked back at Ritsuka staring at the sky and walked towards the boy, stopping in front of him. Ritsuka didn't seem to notice though. He just kept looking up 'Seimei, are you up there somewhere?' he thought in his head, 'And maybe one day, when I disappear, I'll join you...'

"Ritsuka..." came Soubi's voice. Ritsuka was snapped out of his thought. He stopped looking at the sky, and now looked at the man in front of him, with a bit of a worried look on his face. "Are you coming?" he smiled. Youji and Natsuo were also stopped, looking back at the two.

"Yea..." he replied.

They arrived at the store a shot while later, and nearly as soon as they did, they split up. Or rather, Youji and Natsuo left Soubi and Ritsuka.

"If they catch you in here, tell them you're with me. And be back here by 12:00, Kio is going to be there at 1:00." Soubi told them as they were walking off.

"Sure!" Natsuo waved with his back facing them, still walking. Ritsuka also started to walk off, and Soubi followed him.

"Why are you so quiet, Ritsuka?" Soubi asked the boy as they walked down a random isle.

"I'm not..." he replied. Ritsuka had just merely been thinking a lot about things. Things that had happened, and the things to come. "Let's take a picture! I've never had a picture in the store!" he said happily dragging a camera out of the messenger bag he had been carrying around. Soubi smiled. He was happy to see Ritsuka in a better mood.

"I have an idea." Natsuo said to Youji.

"Hmm?" Youji mumbled, through a mouthful of free food he got from one of the employees giving out samples in the food section.

"Follow me..." Natsuo replied, staring to walk faster. Youji did. They arrived in the cosmetics department. Natsuo went to where they kept the condoms. He got a box and opened it, putting several packs into his pockets.

"What are you doing?" Youji had a mischievous grin on his face.

"Fill your pockets and I'll show you." Youji did as told and filled his pockets with several packs as well. When both of their pockets were full, Natsuo motioned for Youji to follow him into a secluded toy isle. "So we go around a put a bunch of these in people's carts while their not looking. And we open a few to put them into the fish tanks." Youji smiled at his Sentouki's sly ways, and nodded.

"Sounds fun..."

They kid behind a display of movies watching a woman as she stopped to look at some clothing. They had been watching her like a lion watches it's prey, waiting for her to leave her cart un-watched for a bit. Their time had finally come, and they slowly slipped out from behind the movie display, casually. Then walked by her un-guarded cart, putting a few packs of condoms in as they did. Then made a circle back around the isle and back behind the movie display waiting for her to notice. She turned around with some shirts in her arms and started to put them into the cart, when she saw mischievous devices. She blushed immediately, and took them out saying,

"Oh my! H-how did those get in t-there? Hahaha" Nervously and innocently. People stared at her a bit, and Youji and Natsuo snickered to themselves, moving onto the next victim. Once _those_ evil deeds were done, they were walking through the store trying to think of more as Youji threw around a bunch of rubber bands he was removing from a rubber band ball.

"I've got one." Youji told Natsuo. This proceeded with taking a 'caution wet floor' sign and asking an employee how much it was with the reply, 'Umm...those aren't for sale?' And hiding in clothing racks, and when people started to look through them, they would jump out at them, scaring the shit out of them. They also turned all the radios to polka, and turned them up on max after turning them off. Now when people went to test the radios out, they would lose their hearing. They also challenged customers to duels with gift wrap tubes. And it ended with them dressing up the mannequins to their linking. Just as they had done this last thing, they were walking off and bumped into Soubi and Ritsuka. "Oh, hey Soubi...Ritsuka?" Youji acknowledged the both of them, noticing Ritsuka had a very angry look on his face.

"What's wrong, Ritsuka?" Natsuo smiled at him. Ritsuka didn't answer. "Hey!" Natsuo said a bit louder, waving his hand in front of Ritsuka's face. The boy looked at Natsuo with a questioning look on his face. "Whaaatsss wrooonnngg?" Natsuo asked him again a bit louder and slower.

"We were in the music isle and..." Soubi started but was immediately cut off by Youji and Natsuo's laughter. They had already figured out what happened. (A/N: If you can't figure it out by now, you're really dumb. Jokes jokes...think back to the polka thing) Ritsuka gave them both a death glare.

"Are they laughing at me!?!" Ritsuka asked Soubi a little bit too loudly. Soubi shook his head no, not wanting to upset the boy any more than he already was. 'He'll get his hearing back in a bit...' Soubi thought. At that time, one of the employees walked up to the group of them.

"Umm..." she said in a quiet and nervous tone. Her head was also down, "S-some of the customers have had some um...complaints o-on two boys that looked about in m-middle or high s-school. One with green hair, and one with b-brown. Um... I-I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to l-leave." she looked up at them a bit to find they were all staring at her attentively. She blushed, "S-sorry!" she then ran off as fast as her feet could take her, tripping over some air on the way back to wherever she was going.

"I's about time to leave anyway..." Soubi admitted, looking at his watch. "Kio should be there in about thirty minutes." They headed towards the door, and every person they saw on the way there gave Youji and Natsuo a weird look.

"What exactly did you do _this_ time?" Soubi asked the two of them.

"Nothing that bad..." Natsuo said, laughing a bit. They went through the exit of the store and a loud beeping sound started to go off. A male employee, who had been working at the door, came to them as quickly as he could.

"I'll need you to empty your pockets, please." he asked the four of them nicely. Youji and Natsuo immediately got the stares from Soubi and Ritsuka. Although Ritsuka faguely knew what was going on.

"Don't look at us, we didn't steal anything..." Youji admitted, believing this statement to be true. They did as told though. Soubi- nothing of stolen interest. Ritsuka- nothing of stolen interest. Youji- About 4 packs of condoms. Natsuo- About 3 packs of condoms. Soubi, seeing this, apologized to the employee,

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was going to buy these, and had my...cousins here to hold them for me in their pockets because he had no cart." he paused, smiling at the man, "I must've forgotten they were in there. Ritsuka who had heard a hint of a beeping noise, and saw Youji and Natsuo drag condoms out of their pockets, was looking around extremely confused.

"Ok, well you can just come back and pay for them then." the man, who had surprisingly believed Soubi, stated simply.

"No it's ok. We're actually late for something, so we don't really have time." Soubi explained to him.

"Alright then, I'll just take them back. You have a nice day." the employee replied to all of them, heading off. Once the four of them had gotten outside, Youji said,

"Nice save, Soubi." smiling, and taking Natsuo's hand. When they got back to the apartment, they found Kio waiting for them, almost in tears.

"Soooouuuu-chan. You told me to come at this time, and you weren't even here. You were off with a bunch of brats. You've _got_ to conquer this thing you have for younger boys..." he pouted. Youji and Natsuo rushed off to their room, and Soubi apologized to Kio for being late, explaining things to him. "What were they doing with condoms? Their so young and having sex, and _we_ haven't even done anything together yet, Sou-chan." At this, Ritsuka, who had been drinking juice that Soubi had brought for the boy and Kio, almost choked on the drink he had just swallowed. (A/N: Oh, and if you haven't figured it out already, Ritsuka's hearing has returned to normal)

"I have to use the bathroom." Ritsuka told the two of them. He got up, and set his juice on a table that was near the hallway, then walked into the bathroom. Youji and Natsuo, who had been listening to the conversation that had been going on, slipped quietly out of their room with a bottle of (_some random alcoholic drink.) _that they had taken from Kio when he had brought it over one day. They slipped a bit of it into Ritsuka's juice. They snuck into the kitchen, and hid the bottle in one of the cabinets, then walked into where Soubi and Kio were at. Kio gave them a you've-still-got-your-ears? look.

"Aren't _you_ thirsty too, Soubi?" Youji asked the man, who was now painting on a canvas beside of Kio, who was doing the same.

"Yea, we'll go get you some juice." Natsuo said smiling and he and Youji walked out of the room and into the kitchen. They poured a glass full the (_random alcoholic drink_) and juice. (A/N: Sorry, I've never drunk before, so I don't really know any names of alcoholic drinks. Lol Besides beer, you know.) By the time they had brought Soubi's "juice" back to him, Ritsuka was already out of the bathroom, and drinking his "juice."

"This tastes funny..."Ritsuka said quietly to himself, but just kept drinking it. He realized that it wasn't a bad taste, just an odd one. "Soubi!" Ritsuka got Soubi's attention. "Don't let me over-sleep in the morning. I'm going to school." he laid the rules out strictly and plainly.

"Ok." Soubi smiled. Kio stared jealously at the both of them.

"Pervert..." Kio whispered more to himself , than anyone.

"I'm not a pervert, Kio." Soubi told Kio...once again. Ritsuka had now drunk all of his juice, and started to get up to take his glass to the kitchen sink when Natsuo stood up abruptly. And took the glass from him.

"Let me get you some more." he smiled.

"But I really didn't-." Ritsuka began, but Natsuo was already halfway to the kitchen. He drug out the (_random alcoholic drink_) and mixed it with the juice once again, and brought it back to the black-haired boy, who was starting to feel a bit flushed. The drink was handed to him, and he took a sip. What could it hurt to drink another glass of juice? Ritsuka took yet another sip. "Hey, Soubi!" Ritsuka said again, and once more, Soubi turned around to face him. "What kind of juice is this, it tastes grrrreat!" Ritsuka had commented, emphasizing one the 'great,' which made him sound like Tony the Tiger. Youji and Natsuo were trying to keep a straight face, as they knew what was going on.

"It's just regular apple juice." Soubi told him, disregarding the 'grrrreat' thing, believing that Ritsuka was just tired. Ritsuka was silent for a while as he drank the rest of his glass of juice. And again, when he was done, Natsuo went to get him more. But this time around, Ritska had implied that he _wanted_ more. That it was 'grrrreat' juice. And still yet, Natsuo filled it with more alcohol. More than the juice this time. As soon as the glass came to Ritsuka's hands, he began to drink it. Finishing it very soon, and wanting more. And Natsuo indeed got him more, but this time around Ritsuka was almost completely drunk, and took his time drinking the glass. He stood up and walked over to where Soubi was standing. He put his hand on the man's hand that was holding the paintbrush.

"Can't you finish this later?" Ritsuka was giving his puppy dog eyes. Soubi was starting to wonder what was going on.

"I can take a break." he assured Ritsuka, setting his paintbrush down. "So, what are you wanting?" Ritsuka got a giant smile.

"I want more juice!" he said like a little child, holding his glass out to Soubi. Soubi agreed, but the glass was taken from his, and filled by Natsuo instead. Ritsuka drank the now almost completely alcoholic beverage down, and set the glass on the table. "Commere!" Ritsuka smiled, walking into the hallway. Kio was looking at Ritsuka questionably, while Youji and Natsuo were watching the show. When Soubi got into the hallway with him, Ritsuka took his hand and led him to the bathroom. "I wanna take a bath." Soubi was finding this all a bit strange. Ritsuka's attitude, _and_ the fact that he could hardly believe that Ritsuka would want Soubi to run the bath water after what had happened the previous night. But he did as told. He _was_ the boy's Sentouki after all. The bath water was running and Ritsuka climbed upon Soubi's lap an got up in the man's face. "Wow, you're sooo pretty!" he paused, "I wanna be pretty like you! But I gotta get rid of my ears first. You wanna help me?" he asked Soubi smiling. _Now_ Soubi knew something was wrong.

"Are you feeling alright, Ritsuka?" the man felt of Ritsuka's forehead.

"Mmmhmm." the boy replied. He took Soubi's hand and laid several kisses on it. "I don't want ears, Soubi! Get them off me, that's an order!" What was Soubi going to do now? Ritsuka, no matter how out of his mind he was, just ordered Soubi to, well, screw him, to put it simply. Soubi didn't want Ritsuka to do such a thing that he would regret, especially when Soubi knew he wasn't in his right mind.

"Ok, Ritsuka. I'll get rid of your ears." he turned the tub off, "Just wait _right_ here for a second while I go get something." Soubi was talking to him like Ritsuka was a little kid. He nodded vigorously and Soubi left the bathroom. He made his way to where Youji and Natsuo were. "What did you do to Ritsuka?" he knew it had to be the doing of the two zero boys, for both he and Kio were painting. And he knew Ritsuka would never do such a thing as to do that to himself.

"Calm down, Soubi. He's just a little drunk is all." Natsuo explained. At this, Kio turned around to look that the three of them with a questionable look.

"Sou-chan, don't do anything perverted with Ritsuka while he's like that." Kio warned him.

"Why the sudden interest in Ritsuka's safety?" Soubi turned to Kio at this time to ask him this.

"I'm not...I just don't want you doing anything with twelve-year-old boys is all. It's all about your safety, Sou-chan. Plus, you haven't even been intimate with me. You have to do that before you do anything with that brat."

"Kio, I would never take advantage of Ritsuka while he's like the way he is." Soubi explained to him. He started to walk back towards the bathroom, and Kio just 'hmf'ed. "I'm back, Ritsuka." Soubi informed the boy as he walked into the bathroom. But as soon as he did, he saw Ritsuka sound asleep on the bathroom floor. Being Ritsuka's first time being drunk, he wasn't able to stay like that for long like some people. Soubi took the boy into his arms, and led him to his bed. He covered the boy up, not wanting him to catch a cold in this early December weather. "Goodnight." Soubi whispered in the boy's ear, and then kissed his head lightly. 'I doubt he'll remember any of this tomorrow. But I'm not going to wake him up for school. He's probably going to have a pretty bad hangover.' Soubi gave an exhausted smile at the passed out boy. "I love you...Ritsuka."

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Yay!! This chapter was really long. The next one will be longer than this one if you'll review a bunch :D. Plus, does anyone know what grade Youji and Natsuo would be in if they were in school?? I'd greatly appreciate if someone could tell me or at least venture a guess...R&R 


	7. It's a Beautiful Lie

**Disclaimer: I claim to own none of the characters from Loveless, but Yun Kouga does. **Thank you, thank you for your many review! Although, I regret to inform you that this is the last chapter of the story. I made it real nice and long, and it took me ages. So get your tissue boxes ready:

LostHeaven: Thanks, but I really do think that I'm the Queen of all that is good and OOC, I appreciate that you don't think so :D Lol. Yea, my friends and I actually did that to people in Walmart once, we almost got kicked out, ourselves. Oh and I notice my mistake:( I feel pretty dumb... 'that' is supposed to be 'an'. I'm glad that it is such a small error though. Thanks for the review:)

Sasskitten: Soubi and Ritsuka _are_ very similar to Tsuzuki and Hisoka. Tsuzuki is quite a bit older than Hisoka; Kisoka gets angry at Tsuzuki lots, like Ritsuka does with Soubi. Many, many similarities. Gawsh, I really want to read your next chapter, if you have noticed that I haven't yet. I've been so busy preparing for finals and all. I can't wait until Christmas break then I'll have all the fanfic time I want:D Thanks for the review, and for helping me out with Youji and Natsuo's age. :)

i-love-anime-2005: I am very pleased to make you laugh, it is what I intended on trying to do, lol. This is the last chapter! O.O I know! I'll warn you: I don't want to give nothing away or anything, but I believe you might need a box of tissues... Thanks for the review:)

Blackstar Angel: Yea, I always thought how funny it would be if Ritsuka were to get drunk while I was reading the manga/watching the anime. And then I thought one day, 'Hey! I'm a fanfiction author, I can make it happpen!' And boom, it's part of one of my chappies. Thanks so much for the review:)

loolz: Aww thanks! Although, I really don't think I'm all that good at describing the characters. I get them really OOC, it's horrible lol. I hope I updated soon enough. This was as soon as I could get it up, but hey, the original date to post it was the 15th, so I'm doing good! This is the last chapter, I regret to inform you. Get your tissue box ready. Thanks so much for the review, and for the info on Youji and Natsuo's age:)

asara kaden: Yea, hangovers are the worst on people. Heh, I've never had one or anything, but I've just heard stories. Personally I saw it as smirnoff or something like that? (Do they even have that in Japan?) Lol I was going to put it as that, but I wasn't sure how to spell it. My spell checker says I'm spelling it wrong any way I try to spell it. I can't exactly ask my parents, for they would be suspicious. But I saw a commercial for smirnoff the other day and I was like "Yes!" and wrote it down quickly. Thanks so much for your review:)

Tsubasa-love: Thanks for all of the reviews on my chapters. I would much rather people who started late in the story to review all the chapters instead of just the one they came in on. Which is why I thank you for that. This is the last chapter, so get your tissue box ready. Thanks so much for the review and info on Youji and Natsuo's age:)

Now onto the last chapter of the story people:

* * *

Ritsuka awoke the next day around 12:00, with a splitting head ache. It was lucky for Ritsuka that when he finally woke up, Soubi had been waiting for him. Otherwise, he would have thought he was dying. He was cursing at the sunlight, and holding his aching head.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked himself, then looked ver at the man who had just sat on the edge of the bed.

"Rest, Ritsuka." he looked the boy straight in the eyes, "You were drunk last night, and have a hangover." Soubi had just decided to get it out. No use in hiding it from him.

"And why... was I drunk?" Ritsuka questioned the man, with a rather bumfuzzled expression on his face. While Soubi found this expression quite cute, he answered the boy truthfully,

"Youji and Natsuo slipped it into your juice last night." he explained. He had gotten the full details from the two boys once he had laid Ritsuka to sleep the previous night. After hearing this, Ritsuka was somewhat relieved, but groaned and rolled over so the sun wouldn't get in his face.

"What..." Ritsuka paused to put a pillow overtop his head. "What did I do, and say?" Seimei had told Ritsuka a little bit before he died to never drink alcohol, because it brought out your innermost personality, and the people that love you might not be used to that other side of you. And by drinking, you're showing them that side of you they don't know, which might not always be a good thing. And he had promised his brother that he would never drink alcohol. 'I'm sorry Seimei, that I had to break me promise." Ritsuka felt that he needed to know what went on while he was drunk.

"Not anything of much importance. You just seemed like, well, a drunk child." Soubi replied, smiling, trying to keep it simple for Ritsuka. He replayed the scene of Ritsuka ordering Soubi to 'get his ears off' in his mind.

"Soubi. I can handle it, please tell me the truth." Soubi, although he couldn't see the look on Ritsuka's face, could tell by his voice that the boy was very serious.

"Is that an order?" the infamous question was asked. And then came the simple reply: A nod of Ritsuka's head and,

"Yes, and order."

"Well. You asked me to run you some bath water, and as I was doing so, you climbed atop my lap and asked me to 'get rid of your ears." Soubi stopped briefly, knowing the boy was going to get extremely embarrassed. And that he was. A bright blush quickly crept across Ritsuka's face, unseen to Soubi of course. He twitched his ears and tail a little to make sure they were still intact. Hearing what Soubi said, for the first time, Ritsuka became thankful that Soubi often times didn't do what Ritsuka ordered him to do. But that was mostly on the Septimal Moons topic. He was very grateful to the man for not doing as he was told. "But you never said _when_ to get rid of your ears, so I'll have to someday when you're ready." he gave the boy a warm smile, although Ritsuka couldn't see it.

"You didn't wake me up for school again." ritsuka informed him, trying to change the subject.

"I knew you were going to have a hangover." Soubi explained himself. Ritsuka said nothing back, for he had drifted off into a deep slumber once more. Waking up several hours later, feeling much better than he did earlier that day.

_5:00pm_

"Ritsuka, you must be hungry, having slept all day." Were the first words the boy heard as he sleepily walked into the kitchen, where Soubi, Youji, and Natsuo sat. Ritsuka nodded his head, not wanting to fight this time. "Well if you'll go get dressed, we'll go out to eat." Ritsuka left the room, still a bit groggy. "Would you two like to come?" Soubi questioned the two zero boys.

"No, we've got other things to do." Natsuo smiled. Soubi knew better than to ask of their plans, so he left the kitchen to go get a coat.

Ritsuka came out of the bathroom, a bit more awake now, and met Soubi.

"Where would you like to eat, Ritsuka?" the two of them were already walking down the sidewalk to their currently unknown destination. A chilly breeze came through the air, and bit at Ritsuka's bare arms.

"Stay here. I forgot my hoodie." Ritsuka told the blonde, running back toward the building. Soubi obeyed since they weren't very far from the apartment, it was still in sight. He watched Ritsuka's every step as he went through the door. One minute... two minutes... three minutes... Maybe he was having trouble finding the hoodie? Four minutes... five minutes... six minutes... seven minutes... Then Soubi saw Youji burst through the apartment door and run toward him.

"S- Soubi..." his voice was shaky and he was out of breath. "Natsuo...I think he's dead! And they took Ritsuka!"

"What?!" Soubi said, grasping Youji's shoulders. "Who took Ritsuka?"

"T- three men..." was all he could get out before collapsing. Soubi picked the young boy up, carrying him back to the apartment as quickly as he could. When he got through the door, he was horrified at what he saw. Natsuo was lying in the floor, unconscious. He was covered in blood, which was still coming from his right leg. The blood was splattered all over the wall Natsuo was laying near, as well as the couch, which Soubi layed Youji Down on. He swiftly got his cell phone out and called Kio. "Ritsuka...please, be ok.'

"What am I...doing here?" Ritsuka had slowly begun to wake up. He was lying on a cold, concrete floor, and it was really damp. He felt that his hands were tied behind his back.

"You're awake!" came a very excited voice. Ritsuka looked to where the voice was coming from. There stood a little girl in a short black dress. It was ruffled with purple lace at the bottom rim of the dress and the sleeves. She had long blonde hair and bright green eyes (A/N: She sort of looks like Evangeline from Negima and her eyes look like Wolfram's from Kyou Kara Maou) "Aww...look at your cute ears!! I'm Sada!" The girl walked over to Ritsuka, playing with his ears. Much like Soubi did at times, but with her, he felt uneasy. Ritsuka took the best look at her as he could, which wasn't very good, because his head felt like it was going to split in half. But he _did_ notice that she had no ears. 'She couldn't be any older than nine...' he thought. "So cute! He's curious as to why I have no ears." Sada said as if reading his mind. This all seemed like a big joke to her.

"How did you know?" Ritsuka pondered.

"Well, I can read others' minds. And if you really must know..." at this points, her voice lowered greatly, and she got a very sad look on her face as if hurt somehow, "my father raped me when I was seven. I didn't really like daddy after that. A few days later I met Akima, and we killed him." she smiled happily, thinking back to the day she met Akima.

_"I...I hate daddy so much." Sada cried to herself, walking through an empty park. She sat near a tall tree. "Maybe I should just be like my name is...Lifeless" she found a glass bottle that was laying near the tree, and broke it on the tree. She took a small piece and held it to her wrist. Just as she was about to cut into her flesh, someone's hand came on her's. _

_"Don't..." came the voice of the person who's hand was on her's. The teary-eyed seven-year-old looked up to see a teenage boy who had short black hair with blonde at the tips. He had black ears, which also had blonde at _their_ tips._

_"But why?! No one cares anyway! My daddy did horrible things to me, and my mommy is dead. Who would care if I'm dead?!" she yelled to him moving her hand away from his._

_"Me." he replied. "I care. For I, I am Lifeless as well." Sada's tears started to dry up. She gave him a disbelieving look. Seeing this, he lifted up his t-shirt, revealing a scar-like name that said 'Lifeless' a bit below his belly-button. She stood up, also lifting up her shirt. She had the very same mark in the very same place._

_"Thank you..." she whispered, as she started to cry silently again._

"Akima?"Ritsuka muttered.

"Yes, my Sentouki. And also one of the men who kidnaped you. Akima and I... are Lifeless." (A/N: You may believe that I am copying off of the story 'Lifeless', but I can assure you that I'm not. A while back my friend Brittany and I picked names we wanted. I picked Loveless and she picked Lifeless. So I decided I'd use the name Lifeless for Sada and Akima) she said in her usual happy tone, "And you are?"

"Loveless." Ritsuka told her weakly, not daring to tell her his birth name. "Why am I here?"

"Because I wanted someone to play with." came the reply. "I told Akima to hide out and find the cutest boy he could, then bring him to me. And as my Sentouki, he naturally had to obey my order." she smiled one of her wide smiles again. "Although, I never imagined he'd bring me an older boy." Sada frowned a bit, "I wanted someone my age, we would've had a lot more fun. Older boys are just mean. Except Akima of course!"

"Then why don't you just play with him? Or try making friends?" Ritsuka asked.

"I do play with Akima...all the time. But I wanted someone new to play with. And to the reason why I won't make friends..." her voice lowered as it had when she had spoke of her father, "No one likes me. They say I'm weird just because I don't have ears." she paused once more, "But it's not like it's my fault..."

'I might as well play along, or I'll never get out of here...' Ritsuka figured out. "Well I don't think you're weird! You're cute even without your ears." Ritsuka gave her a warm(fake) smile. "So what do you want to play? I'll play it with you." he struggled a bit with his hands, "but could you untie me first?" Ritsuka figured the first way to win Sada's trust was to change his attitude toward her completely and be as nice to the child as possible. Then there came a beeping sound emitting from Ritsuka's pocket.

"Oopsie! Forgot to take your phone!" She reached into Ritsuka's hoodie pocket, (which he had managed to get before being abducted) and flipped the phone open, putting it to her ear. "Hello?" she answered the phone cheerfully.

"Where's Ritsuka?!" came a worried voice over the phone.

"Oh, his name is Ritsuka? How cute! He's right here beside of me. You're his Sentouki, right? Well Loveless, do you think you can call back later? We're trying to play." Sada told the voice. She was acting as if nothing were wrong.

"Let me talk to Ritsuka!" came the voice again, _that _time Ritsuka heard it. 'Soubi!' he thought. Sada sighed.

"Fine, Soubi, but he is only allowed to say one word." she said, leaving Soubi confused as to how she knew his name. It was then that Ritsuka remembered that the girl could read others' minds. He had to be more careful about what he thought. Sada put the phone up to Ritsuka's ear. "Only one word..." she reminded him cheerfully. Ritsuka searched in his mind for a word he could say to give Soubi a hint to his whereabouts. He had no idea where he was at, so he could say nothing on that matter. He knew the girl's name was Sada, but who knew _how_ many people there were out there with the name Sada. Then it came to him.

"Lifeless..." was the one and only word Ritsuka said, then Sada pulled the phone back to her own ear.

"Bye bye!" she snapped ther phone shut. "Good hint, Ritsuka! And I absolutely love your name! It's adorable..."

"What do you want to play?" Ritsuka got straight to the point. He'd never get anywhere if he didn't keep being nice to her.

"Oh yea." she smiled... yet again, remembering that they still hadn't played yet. "I'll be right back." She laid the phone on a table near the stairway, and commenced to walk up said stairway. She was singing "Ritsuka, Ritsuka, Ritsuka!" the whole way, shutting the door behind her. Ritsuka looked at the phone sitting on the table, unguarded. He tried as hard as he could to get up from the floor with his hands still tied behind his back, and eventually succeeded. He ran swiftly over to the table at which his phone sat. 'Why hasn't Soubi tried to call back?' he asked himself in his head, 'Maybe it really is like Youji said...'

_"I don't know... according to Kio, he was heartbroken over Seimei, but eventually got over that, after you came along, of course. So how can you be sure that he didn't get tired with you?"_

Ritsuka turned around and grabbed his phone with his bound hands. He moved his arms as far left as they could go, to try and get a glimpse of his phone as he struggled to get it open. It was even harder to see the numbers. He tried to feel around for speed dial '1'. But just as he found it, he heard the basement door open. He quickly snapped the phone shut, and put it back on the table as quietly as he could. He had just plopped back down onto the stop he was at previously when Sada got to the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm back!" she grinned, carrying what looked like a deep maroon tool box.

"Are we going to play tools?" Ritsuka asked the girl in a friendly voice, acting as if he were excited to play tools with her.

"Nope!" she replied, "This is even better!" She dragged out a hammer and nails. 'What could we be playing that isn't tools, but involves a hammer?' Ritsuka wondered to himself, pondering the hammer carefully. 'Maybe she heard me wrong?'

"Are you coming, Akima?" Sada yelled up the stairs. A second later, a boy, which Ritsuka recognized as one of those who kidnaped him, came down the creaky stairs. He had a chair in one hand, and duct tape in the other one. Akima walked slowly over to where he was and set the chair down behind of Ritsuka, who was still sitting on the floor. He lifted Ritsuka up into the chair, untying his hands at last.

"Place _your _arms on the arms of the chair..." Akima commanded him. Ritsuka did as told, and was a bit surprised. Akima had quite a deep voice for a seventeen-year-old. Akima took the duct tape, and commenced to tape Ritsuka's arms to the arms of the chair, rolling up his hoodie sleeves before doing so; so now the duct tape was sticking to the little bit of hair he had on his arms.(A/N: Akima actually bound Ritsuka's lower arms, right above his hands.) Ritsuka, who was now seriously wondering what was going on, didn't struggle. He just went along with whatever they had planned, hoping that if it _was_ something bad, he would be saved by his Sentouki. Besides, as he had figured out before, if he ever wanted to get out of this place, then he _had_ to comply. After binding Ritsuka's legs to the chair with the tape, Akima started to walk back up the stairs.

"Thanks Akima! But aren't you going to stay and play with us? Or at least _watch_ us play?"

"No." he replied in his deep voice, his tail swaying a bit, then he left. Sada walked over to where Ritsuka was seated, the hammer and nail still in her hands.

"Ok, Ritsuka. I'll give you three tries to guess the answer to this questions." she put the nail on Ritsuka's bare arm, and his eyes were swiftly averted to where it was placed.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked her fearfully, getting a bit terrified.

"We're playing of course, silly. Answer the question wrong, and you'll find out exactly what will happen with this nail and hammer." Sada smiled, "Now what's black and white and red all over?" Ritsuka pondered for a moment. He had remembered hearing this once before, but hadn't really paid any attention to the person telling the joke. Now he wished that he had have. Ritsuka kept thinking for the next few minutes until Sada sighed and said, "Time's up!" in a cheerful voice.

"But you didn't say anything about a time limit." Ritsuka informed the child, hoping she would let him off.

"Oopsie! Must have forgot." she had an innocent, yet evil, look on her face. But Ritsuka knew better by now that it was an 'accident.' She then raised the hammer up, and drove the nail straight through Ritsuka's arm. He felt it as it pierced his skin, and went through the flesh slowly. It started to spew blood and bleed profusely, dripping off of the arm of the chair and onto the floor.

"Ahh!" Ritsuka cried in pain. He was extremely used to pain from his mother's beatings, but it still hurt severely. The knife his mother had struck him with didn't _stay _in his arm like the nail did. Plus, he had Soubi there to comfort him. But all he had now was a cold and damp basement with a sick and twisted little girl.

"The answer was a penguin in a blender, silly!" she smiled sweetly. "I actually tried it once. But the penguin was too big for the blender, so I had Akima chop it up a bit first." she laughed. 'She is _seriously_ twisted!' Ritsuka thought, through his pain. She grinned and now opened her 'tool box' up again, pulling out a screwdriver. "Ok, next question!" Ritsuka looked at her, the pain obvious in his facial expression. "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten. It's not my age, it's not how many fingers I have, and it's not two." she got down on her knees in front of Ritsuka, hitting the screwdriver against his knee lightly, saying, "You have three tries."

'If it's not her age, which is nine; not how many fingers she has, which is ten; and it's not two. That leaves one, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.' he thought. "Four?" he took a wild guess, hoping it was the right answer.

"Nope!" she told him joyously. She then drove the screwdriver into the shin of his right leg, getting another cry of pain out of him. Sada twisted it around a bit, still inside of his skin, then pulled it back out. Ritsuka was panting heavily, on the verge of tears streaming from his violet eyes. "I'll give you another hint. The number is spelled with more than three letters." Ritsuka, who was straining to even think straight, eliminated one and six with this hint, as well as the number four he had guessed.

"Eight..." he got out, praying he was correct.

"Nope!" At this word, his eyes were already shut in preparation for his next 'punishment.' She plunged the already bloody screwdriver into his left shin this time. At this point they both heard a loud crack. Ritsuka's head was now down, and his bangs were covering his eyes, which were emitting giant tears that rolled down his cold cheeks. "Here's your last hint: it's not three."

'Either five or seven...' The agonizing pain gave Ritsuka no strength to ponder which to choose. So he just told her the first number that he blurted out.

"Se...ven?" he said, begging that it was the right answer, he wasn't sure how much more of this pain he could bear. Plus, he was losing a great amount of blood in the process.

"Nope! Sorry Ritsuka, but the number was five!" she put the screwdriver against his arm that wasn't nailed, and pushed down swiftly. Ritsuka made a bit of a face, but only lightly felt the pain, for he was almost numb. His arms and legs were bleeding still and there was a big puddle under the chair. He felt as if he were going to die at any minute. His breath was short and he had shadows under his eyes. He could no longer feel his legs, arms, or fingers. 'Soubi... please... help me...' he thought. "Ok, we'll only play one more game for today. It's getting late." she paused to yawn, "And I'm getting sleepy!" she smiled at Ritsuka as if nothing were wrong with the bleeding boy in front of her. "What does my name start with?" she asked him this last question. She pulled super glue, a cordless power drill, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol out of her tool box. Now Ritsuka, being so out-of-it from loss of blood wasn't able to think straight, so he just remembered her name, 'Sada.'

"...S..." he answered in pain.

"Wrong." she told him. "You've got to think harder." she opened the bottle of super glue and glued his mouth shut. How would he answer her question now? He was so out-of-it, that he barely even considered this. But then it hit him. The answer to her question was 'L.' But how was he going to answer her? He couldn't shape an 'L' with his fingers, for they were beyond numb. And of course, he couldn't speak, for his mouth was glued tightly shut. "Time's up!" she splashed the rubbing alcohol all over his wounds, but he showed no sign of any pain. He could no longer fell anything. He knew now how the Zero must felt. "Aw! You didn't make a face!" she complained, "You're no fun!" she then took the drill, putting it right in the middle of Ritsuka's forehead, about to pull the trigger. "You actually _were_ fun while you lasted, Ritsuka. It's sad. That man that you were talking to, didn't even come to save you. That's the difference between a good Sentouki and a bad one. Akima _came_ to my rescue when I was in trouble, and your just _doesn't care._"

'This... is how I'm going to disappear...' was the last thing Ritsuka thought, before someone burst through the basement door. The person seemed to fly down the stairs, skipping several steps on their way to the bottom. The drill was knocked out of Sada's hand. Of course, Ritsuka barely knew what was going on. He had lost so much blood that he didn't even know if he was conscious.

"S...Soubi?" Ritsuka asked with out thinks, then passed out. Soubi struggled to get the unconscious Ritsuka out of the chair, while Sada started to cry.

"You ruined it! You ruined all of our fun!" Tears rolled down her cheeks, as if the two of them actually _had_ been having a lot of fun. "AKIMA!" she screamed. Immediately, the boy came down the stairs. "Let's fight him! Fight the Loveless Sentouki. He's nothing without Ritsuka, so let's fight him." But Soubi did not have time for such things, Ritsuka _needed _care. Quickly he ripped the duct tape off of Ritsuka's writs, imagining how painful that would've been had he have been conscious. Ritsuka's wrists were bleeding from where the duct tape had been. Obviously from his struggling under the sticky plastic from his pain. Ritsuka's jeans were also bloody, giving then the look as if he had been knee-high in mud. The blonde could see big gashes on the boy's arms, as well as a nail in his right arm.

"As if Ritsuka hasn't been though enough." Soubi frowned.

Ritsuka woke p two days later in a hospital bed. His eyes were a bit blurry, but he could see that in front of him, sat Soubi in a chair. Ritsuka was unable to speak though. He opened his mouth slightly, but closed it again, feeling a slight stinging on his lips. He could barely remember what had happened until he looked at his bandaged arms. Soubi, who had been staring at the ground, noticed that Ritsuka was finally awake, and was quickly out of his chair and to the boy's bed side.

"Can you talk?" Soubi asked him softly. He expected that Ritsuka couldn't, and was right. Ritsuka shook his head 'no,' and Soubi took his IV'd hand. "I'm sorry...Ritsuka." Soubi put his head down. It pained him to see his Sacrifice hurt like this, but still, he was hurt _so_ often. "I'm sorry that I failed you. Punish me as you wish. Ritsuka moved his hand to Soubi's head, taking some of his hair into his hand gently. Soubi looked up, and could see that Ritsuka was trying his best to smile warmly at him through his burning lips. It was as if he was trying to say, 'I forgive you.' Then Soubi saw something that he rarely saw out of the boy. Small tears were running down his pale cheeks. "Does it hurt, Ritsuka?" Soubi asked, Ritsuka nodded. But that wasn't the only reason he had been crying. "Ritsuka… I _promise_, I will never let _anyone_ hurt you ever again…" He vowed, feeling like crying, himself. Even though he had been through all of that training to be able to handle pain, it still hurt his heart more than anything to see Ritsuka like this. Then Soubi thought of something, "Yuiko and Yayoi are coming by to see you later, maybe that will make you feel a bit better." Soubi assured him. Ritsuka now had a bit of a confused look. Seeing this, Soubi explained, "I informed them after they got off of school. I gave then no more details than the fact that you were kidnaped, tortured, and I told them that the police found you.. Even Kio, Youji, and Natsuo seemed worried for you. Youji was mostly worried about Natsuo though. Since Natsuo can't feel the pain, he insists that he's fine. But he does have a broken leg, and has to regain his blood loss. You've been sleeping for two days now, and Kio took Natsuo to the hospital while I searched for you. But I was too late to save you from your injuries and suffering..."

_FLASH BACK_

_"Kio?" Soubi asked over the phone. Natsuo was a bloody heap on the floor, and Youji was an unconscious heap on the couch. "I need you to get down here. I'll explain things later..." Kio was extremely confused as to what was going on, but did as Soubi told him to do and headed to the apartment as quickly as possible, finding Soubi, Youji, and Natsuo. As soon as Soubi explained what was going on, he left, leaving Kio to take care of Zero._

_END FLASHBACK_

There was a knock on the door. Soubi stood up from Ritsuka's side and headed to the door. But before he could even get the door open all the way, Yuiko burst through it, with a less-excited Yayoi following behind her.

"Ritsuka!" Yuiko half-yelled, half-whispered. He attempted to smile at the girl, but soon quit as his lips started to bleed. He just licked it away. "Ritsuka!! Yuiko...Yuiko was so scared!" Yuiko cried. She had gotten too excited and started to refer to herself with her own name at that time. "You hadn't been to school in nearly a week. Yayoi and I were so worried, and then today Soubi met us after school and told us what had happened!" she saw a lump under the blanket where Ritsuka's left leg might have been. "How did you do that?" she pointed at the lump, wiping away her tears. Ritsuka, who was just acknowledging this himself, lifted the blanket to reveal a cast on his leg.

"Ritsuka can't talk yet." Soubi explained to the flushed girl. You could clearly tell that she had been crying. Yayoi was being unusually silent.

"Oh..." she smiled at Ritsuka with teary eyes, "Do _you_ know how he broke it?"

"Not yet." Soubi replied, "But I'm sure as soon as he gets back to school, he'll explain everything." Soubi couldn't guarantee this, of course. The nurse came into the room.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake!" she smiled, "Ritsuka needs to take his medicine, so he'll get pretty drowsy here in a minute." she informed then all.

"Oh, ok. We'll just be leaving then. We don't want to be in the way." Yuiko explained to the nurse, referring to Yayoi and herself. "When do you think he'll be back at school?" she asked Soubi.

"Maybe when all his wounds heal, and when his leg gets better. Maybe sooner." Soubi answered.

"Aw, _that long_?" Yuiko's eyes welled up with tears, not wanting to go that long without seeing Ritsuka.

"He'll be at my apartment a lot though, so you can stop by and see him. He'll more than likely be there." Soubi tried to make it sound as if Ritsuka still lived with his mother, but only visited Soubi often.

"Ok!" she got cheerful again, "Bye, Ritsuka, I'll come see you sometime!" she waved at the boy. He managed to raise his arm that wasn't connected to IV's and gave her a small wave. Just as Yuiko and Yayoi were about to go out the door, Yayoi said in a low voice,

"I hope you're better soon... for _everyone's_ sake." Ritsuka's lips moved up in a weak smile, and then the two of them left. Soubi sat back down in his chair, and the nurse gave Ritsuka his medicine. It was a liquid kind, and it stung as he pressed the spoon against his lips. He had been so used to pain now, that what would sting to him would burn like one thousand hells to other kids his age. Ritsuka was asleep within the next five minutes.

ONE WEEK LATER...

"Dammit!" Ritsuka muttered under his breath. He was sitting on the couch with Natsuo. The two of them had just gotten out of the hospital the day before.

_FLASHBACK_

_Youji helped Natsuo up the steps to the small apartment, as did Soubi help Ritsuka. Ritsuka's lips were almost healed, but if strained too much, they would start bleeding again. Both he and Natsuo had casts on their legs. His was the left leg, Natsuo's was the right. Although, Natsuo could've just broken the cast open (somehow) and walked around perfectly fine, except for a bone protruding through his leg, Youji still insisted that he help him up the stairs. They both had gotten crutches, but obviously couldn't walk with them up the stairs. And finally, after much difficulty, they got through the apartment door. They had just gotten settled down too, when they heard a knock at the door. Soubi, being the owner of the apartment, 'boss' of all the boys, and the oldest, answered the door. At said door stood a professional-looking woman, whom Soubi recognized as...shit. No, not actual shit. This was the word he said in his head as he realized who this was. She was the social worker from the hospital. He had completely forgotten that in a week or so she would be coming by to see if Ritsuka was in a suitable place. If she were to walk in right now, see Ritsuka with bandages and a broken leg; plus two other boys that were unaccounted for in the apartment, Ritsuka would be taken from him for sure. So he didn't the only thing he could think of,_

_"Hello. I actually just got back from the store, and I've got quite a few groceries scattered around, if you'll wait right here a moment, I'll get them out of the way. It should take no longer than a minute." Soubi lied casually. She nodded. Soubi left the door cracked a bit as he thanked the heavens that Ritsuka, Youji, and Natsuo had been in a different room at the time. Or she might've been able to see them, had she looked behind Soubi in the least. He went into the kitchen where they were all three sitting. "Youji, Natsuo. You remember that social worker I was telling you about that was supposed to come by some time to make sure Ritsuka was living in a suitable place?" They nodded, "And you remember how I said that if she found out you two were living here, we might not be able to keep Ritsuka?" They nodded again, and at this Ritsuka felt as if he were some sort of animal they were trying to protect. He just shook it off though. "Well she's here, and I need you two to take Ritsuka and go to Yuiko's or somewhere for the time being." Youji jumped out of his chair, helping Natsuo out of his chair, while Ritsuka stood up as well. "And try to get everything she might find suspicious out." Soubi was telling them all these things, but he knew good and well the Zero boys could accomplish it without any trouble. He quickly left them to their business and went back to the front door, greeting the woman once more. "I'm sorry about that..." Soubi then opened the door for her to enter the house. It was a good thing that his apartment stayed clean, because he was sure that had to count as something. She walked around the place making random comments about how beautiful his apartment was. She came upon one of his butterfly paintings._

_"Did... did you paint this?" she asked in awe looking at the painting. It was a black butterfly. It was laying on the ground near a puddle of water, just barely alive. It's wing was ripped, and even though butterflies did not bleed, this one bled a small bit from it's torn wing. Soubi didn't normally draw things like this. Sure, he painted butterflies all the time, but never one's that were dying. He wasn't even sure why he had done it. The image just came into his mind one day while painting. He remembered how Kio had commented on how creepy it looked, and that even though it was very good, he should draw something more happy...something besides butterflies. But Kio was always like that._

_"Yes. I do these kinds of paintings for my classes." He admitted._

_"It's very beautiful." she replied, "Mr. Agatsuma, I believe this is an extraordinary home for Ritsuka to be living." she smiled, as she finished her inspection._

_END FLASHBACK_

Natsuo sighed. They had indeed intended to go to Yuiko's house while the social worker came by, but Ritsuka told them no. He couldn't be sure what the Zero boys would try to do with Yuiko, so they had just hung out at a nearby park until Soubi had come to get them. And after Ritsuka and Natsuo had been walking so much, Soubi and Youji decided that they need the two to rest their legs up. They were unable to get up. They were told to stay on the couch and rest up. Of course, Ritsuka could've gotten up if he wanted to, but Natsuo on the other hand wasn't able. Youji was Natsuo's Sacrifice, and whatever the Sacrifice says, goes.

"I'm sick of sitting here..." Ritsuka noted to the boy beside of him for what seemed like the fifth time.

"You have a choice. I was told by my Sacrifice to stay here." This was the first time Natsuo had ever been slightly aggravated with Youji. "Besides, you don't have to sit here feeling like there's nothing wrong with you." Natsuo's arms were bandaged up, as well as his head where he had taken several blows from a knife on the night of the incident. He could've kept going, had he not fainted from loss of blood that day. "Where are you going?" Natsuo asked Ritsuka, seeing him lift himself up off of the couch.

"I'll go find our crutches." he replied.

"I won't be able to get up anyway, so don't even bother with mine." Natsuo sighed. Ritsuka hoppled along down the hallway, asking himself where Soubi could've hidden them. Just as he had started to enter the bathroom to check, he tripped and fell face first, making his lips start to bleed. He prayed that Soubi hadn't heard the thump; he didn't want to get caught. Ritsuka had a difficult time trying to stand up because of his cast. He then saw the cause of this sudden fall... Soubi's kitten. The _one_ thing that made him fall so often.

"What are you doing?" came Natsuo's voice from above Ritsuka. He laughed at the other boy, who was staring the kitten down. But soon broke his gaze, once he heard Natsuo's voice.

"I thought you weren't able to get up?" Ritsuka asked.

"I realized that Youji never ordered me to do anything, he just _told_ me to, which is not the same thing." Natsuo smiled at his sudden loop hole. He gave Ritsuka his hand and helped him up. They began to search once again: Soubi's room, (which had really become Ritsuka's room to for the past while) his closet, the balcony, the bathroom, the bathroom closet, and everywhere else they could think to look...except the kitchen. That was where Soubi and Youji were.

"I bet the crutches are with them..." Natsuo commented.

"You're right, let's just go ask for them. That's all we _can_ do." Ritsuka admitted, walking towards the direction of the kitchen, when

FWAP!

"It's always that kitten's fault! He's always under my feet!" Ritsuka attempted to whisper.

"Did you hear that thump?" Soubi asked Youji, who was nibbling slightly on some crackers.

"Mmmhmm." he replied. Then Soubi had gotten an idea,

"Sounds like they're having a lot of _fun_." He winked, knowing good and well that this wasn't true in the least.

"Don't be stupid, Soubi." Youji replied in a bored tone again.

"Natsuo!" They heard Ritsuka scream. Youji's, hearing this, thought that maybe something _was_ going on, and he jumped out of his seat, bursting through the kitchen door.

"Natsuo, what are you...doing?" he asked, looking at his Sentouki, who lay on the floor. Ritsuka was sitting down beside of him. "What are you guys doing?!" he asked once more.

"I tripped over that damn kitten!" Natsuo said, feeling a bit stupid now for making fun of Ritsuka. The kitten really _was_ always under your feet.

"Why aren't you on the couch?" Youji asked him, extending his arm to help him up.

"We're both sick of sitting there. Give us our crutches." Natsuo admitted.

"All you had to do was ask. I was only trying to keep you safe." Youji smiled at him, and helping Ritsuka up as well. They all went back into the kitchen where Soubi was.

"So what were they doing?" Soubi asked. Even _he_ had been wondering slightly.

"Natsuo tripped over that stupid kitten of yours..." Youji sighed, "I'm giving them their crutches, they want them."

"That's good." soubi smiled, "I was starting to miss my Ritsuka." Now Ritsuka, who was already standing fairly close to the man, was took into his arms with one swift movement. _And_ his lips were took swiftly as well. They still tasted of blood. Ritsuka pulled away, realizing what Soubi was doing. "You taste like blood." This made Ritsuka blush a deep red.

Later on that day, or should I say, it was now nighttime, Ritsuka was laying out on the balcony letting snowflakes hit him. He found that he liked it out on the balcony, and the coldness of the night hardly bothered him at all. The stars were shining bright and beautifully, but at times, hard to tell from the snowflakes. His cast was itching terribly, and without knowing, he had caught himself scratching his cast, mistaking them for his itching skin. This only got him more aggravated. Someone had just come out onto the balcony with him. Looking over to see whom it was, he saw Soubi, then continued to ponder the sky some more. Ritsuka had been thinking about how he had been missing sessions with his therapist.

"What is today?" Ritsuka looked over at Soubi, who sat down beside of him.

"Tuesday." he replied, "Why?" ritsuka figured Soubi was going to have to figure it out sooner or later. He would've gotten suspicious had the boy started to up and disappear every Wednesday.

"I have to go to my therapist on Wednesdays after school." Ritsuka replied, rolling over a little bit so that he could look off of the balcony at the scenery bellow.

"I can take you there tomorrow." Soubi offered.

"You don't have to. I've gotten there by myself every other time."

"But I want to, Ritsuka." Soubi smiled, wrapping his arms around the boy, pulling him back a bit so that he wouldn't fall off of the balcony.

"Fine..." he sighed, "Do what you want." He wasn't really wanting Katsuko-sensei to meet Soubi. Sure, he had told her about him. Many times, in fact. But never had she met him. Ritsuka noticed a single tree off in the distance (as he could still see slightly off of the balcony), it had no leaves on in. He never realized how beautiful the trees could be in December before. Sure, maybe they didn't have many leaves, but that didn't mean they weren't beautiful. Delicate snowflakes were hitting his face softly, dotting his hair with white freckles. How would life be for him from now on? Everything seemed as if it were happening too quickly. It seemed like just yesterday that he was being beaten on by his mother, but now, he was safe in Soubi's care. Sometimes he had felt like a tree in December, on a snowy day such a s this one. He had no leaves, no memories. With the breeze flowing through the air, he had felt as if he were being constantly swayed by it, and almost knocked down. But the breeze was not quite enough, because he had a reason to stand on and dig his roots into, that wouldn't let him fall so easily. And that reason...was Soubi.

"What happened to Sada?" this thought had just suddenly came into Ritsuka's head.

"Her Sentouki and her initiated a battle, but I fled before they could fight, because you needed to get to a hospital." Soubi explained to Ritsuka, who had started to shiver a bit. Ritsuka didn't even notice he was doing so, though. Soubi pulled Ritsuka closer, and surprisingly enough, he didn't resist.

"You could've easily killed the both of them within minutes, why didn't you?" Ritsuka questioned. He knew that it wouldn't have been easy for Soubi to resist. If the 'love' he claimed to have for Ritsuka was true, he would have surly had a hard time keeping himself from murdering the two of them.

"Because I knew Ritsuka wouldn't like if I did that." was Soubi's understandable answer. Ritsuka understood now, _he_ wouldn't have wanted the two killed, even though Sada had put him through so much pain. They were silent for several minutes as the snow started coming down heavier. "Why don't we go in? It's getting very cold out here, Ritsuka. I don't want you betting sick, along with having a broken leg." Soubi was holding the boy so close to him, that Ritsuka could hardly feel the cold at all anyway.

"You can go on, I'm fine." Ritsuka answered the blonde, seeing a snowflake fall on Soubi's hand, which was on the boy's chest. Soubi _didn't_ move though,. He just kept hanging on dearly to his Sacrifice as if were going to disappear if he let go. Ritsuka's arms, that had been lying limply on the floor of the balcony, rose up. He put his hands on Soubi's, feeling the coldness of them. He truly _was_ cold, but he was staying out there with Ritsuka anyway. The boy turned around so that he was face-to-face with the blonde, who was smiling at him, his arms now around Ritsuka's back. There faces were _so _close, and he felt a blush coming across his face. He wasn't sure why, but he had, had the urge to turn around and face the man hanging so tightly onto him. Violet into blue, once again as it had been in the bathroom so many nights ago. This time, Ritsuka wasn't going to chicken out and run. He wasn't sure if the tightening feeling in his chest was a good thing or a bad thing, he only knew that he wanted his lips pressed against the other's. Before Ritsuka could even decide what he was going to do next, Soubi leant forward, bringing their lips together in a tingling sensation. The tightening in Ritsuka's chest got tighter, and his heartbeat got faster. He wasn't sure what to do. So he did the only thing he could think of, he kissed Soubi back. They both still just lay there, on the cold balcony, kissing each other. Soubi was overjoyed, his Sacrifice was finally kissing him back. Soubi's hands, which had been on Ritsuka's back, slowly moved upward to Ritsuka's head, deepening the kiss. Ritsuka slowly pulled away, panting heavily. His and Soubi's breath was showing in the cold air.

"S-Soubi..." Ritsuka breathed out.

"Yes, Ritsuka?" Soubi whispered in the boy's ear, sending a chill up his spine."I..." he stopped and looked at the man in the eyes again, "I'm sleepy." Soubi merely smiled at the boy, nodding. He stood up off the balcony floor, helping up Ritsuka in the process. Soubi handed him his crutches that had been leaned against the window pane.

Staring at Soubi's ceiling, Ritsuka was unable to get to sleep. He placed his hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat. 'What was that feeling?' he thought, "My heart. It's still beating like crazy...' Then as if it had just occurred to him, 'I kissed Soubi!' his chest got that same tightening in it that it had before, only smaller. He was so thankful that he was getting to talk to Katsuko-sensei tomorrow. Maybe she could help him sort this all out. Help him figure out what was wrong with him. Was he having a heart attack? He was getting a bit drowsy with all of his thinking. 'I kissed Soubi...' he thought one last time, this time it wasn't a thought of worry, anguish, or hurt. This time, in thinking about his actions, he somehow felt...complete.

"Ritsuka..." he heard a voice faintly. Then it came again, "Ritsuka..." he slowly opened his still-heavy eyes to reveal a certain blue-eyed, blonde-haired man staring down at him. "Ritsuka, are you going to school today?" the boy nodded his head in reply, raising up and rubbing his eyes.

"What time is it?" he mumbled, walking into the kitchen groggily.

"7:00." Soubi replied. Normally, back when Ritsuka was living with his mother, he would wake himself up for school every morning, and will no troubles too. But being at Soubi's house, he just felt like he could sleep forever without a care. Of course he could, Soubi would certainly let him go forever without school if that was what Ritsuka wanted, but it wasn't. His friends were bound to be worried about him still, and he needed an education. "Once you're dressed, I'll walk you to school. Are you hungry?" This was another question pertaining to back when he lived with his mother. In the morning time he usually never ate breakfast. And if on some rare occasion he had decided that he would eat, he would make something himself, not wanting to anger his mother with 'eating the wrong foods.' But at Soubi's, the man offered him food every morning, and offered to cook/buy it. There was no work done by Ritsuka at Soubi's house. And it somehow troubled him a bit. Ritsuka shook his head in a 'no' response to food. And now that he was a bit more awake, all the memories of the previous night came back to him. His face tingled of red. He turned around to head back to the bedroom to get dressed, and Soubi, who knew what Ritsuka was doing, stayed where he was to wait on the boy to finish. 'What does this mean now?' Ritsuka wondered, pulling up his jeans after his had covered his torso with a black turtleneck. 'Do I...' Realization had finally hit him, 'Do I love Soubi? I can't love him though. I'm _Loveless_, one without love.' but something was telling him, deep inside that he _was_ able to love. That his name meant nothing to how he really felt. He pulled his sock on over his cold foot, the other still in it's cast, his tail twitched a bit as he left the room to meet Soubi at the front door. 'What else could this feeling be? I must love him.' Ritsuka felt like crying. He wasn't sure if he should tell Soubi what was going on, or if he should just keep quiet until he figured it out by himself. Once putting his shoe on, he grabbed his crutches, holding them as he tried to get himself down the stairs of the outside of the apartment with Soubi's help. They were silent most of the way there. Ritsuka was contemplating what was going on with him, while Soubi was giving Ritsuka bit of space. 'Ok, so say I _do_ love him. What can I do about it? Do I just tell him straight out, or what? He's already told me plenty of times that he loves me, regardless of whether or not it was Seimei's order for Soubi to love him.' He knew Soubi would not reject him in the least, in fact he would probably be quite happy to hear the boy's feelings. But the question was: What would become of them after that? Things wouldn't be the same... or would they? Ritsuka figured at the most they would just me more well intimate. Nothing past the pg-13 level of course. Ritsuka wouldn't allow that at such an age.

"H-hey..." Ritsuka began to say something, but soon changed his mind. Soubi gave the boy a questionable look, wondering what he was going to say next. "I-it's nothing..." Soubi wanted so bad to take the boy's hand in his own. But the crutches were the only thing stopping him from doing so. He wondered how the boy would react if he were to do this. Remembering all the events of last night, he really wasn't quite sure. They arrived at the front of the school. Traffic seemed very busy this day, there were more cars than usually zooming by. Ritsuka, standing at the school gate turned to Soubi. "Are you c-coming to p-pick me up?" Soubi smiled at how red the boy was getting.

"Of course." he smiled down at him, leaning down to kiss the top of his head, making Ritsuka's cheeks tingle another shade of pink. "Have a nice day at school, Ritsuka." and at these last words, Soubi turned around and crossed the street to head back to his apartment. Maybe he'd call Kio later on to come work on their art projects. Soubi was wondering. But there were different things on Ritsuka's mind on the moment. _What if you never see him again? What if he dies on his way home?_ Came a voice from somewhere deep inside of him. 'No, Soubi's stronger than that. He's able to stay alive through many painful obstacles. But still the voice said, _You never know...this may be your last chance to tell him how you feel..._ Ritsuka was able to feel his heart starting to beat faster again. 'This...' he thought, 'This really_ may_ be my last chance...' He laid his crutches against the brick wall near the gate, and started to hopple toward Soubi, who was already a bit away, but still withing yelling distance. 'I...I've got to tell him.'

"Soubi!" Ritsuka yelled from across the sidewalk. But it was because of a roaring car that went by, that stopped Soubi from hearing his name, so Ritsuka called it again, "Soubi!" At this, he turned around to see his Sacrifice, several yards away across from him. "I think..." Ritsuka exclaimed as he began. But another car went by, making Soubi not be able to hear a word Ritsuka was saying. So without even thinking, Ritsuka walked out into the middle of the road, aiming to cross the street to get to the blonde. "Soubi...I...I LOVE YOU!"

_Bang..._

A truck had hit Ritsuka. Tears came from Soubi's eyes as he saw Ritsuka's body hit the truck, and heard several bones crack. He knew what had happened, and he was sure that it was over. The truck stopped, and the man in it got out his cell phone quickly, and called the ambulance. Soubi ran out in the road to where Ritsuka's body lay. Blood was everywhere. It was spattered on the front of the truck, all over the road, and of course all over his poor Sacrifice's broken body.

"Ritsuka! Ritsuka! W-wake up, please! Talk to me! You're going to be ok. It'll be ok" he yelled, as tears strung down his face. Every bit of the training he had went through could not stop these tears. He knew, as soon as he had saw the truck hit Ritsuka, that things were more than likely hopeless. But still he pleaded, "You can't die on me! You can't!!" he looked at the boy's fragile, pale hand, that once held his, and was now covered in crimson liquid. People started yelling, and teachers scrambled out of the school. Once of the many, was Miss. Shinonome. She looked at the scene before her, and couldn't even bear it. She turned away, tears coming from her eyes as well. The ambulance finally came, but Soubi knew Ritsuka was too far gone now. Soubi took his's limp, broken body and put him inside the back of the ambulance truck on a stretcher. Several people were now crowding around. Soubi's hands and clothing were covered in the sticky substance that was still coming from some of the wounds on the boy's body. He cried as they checked Ritsuka's pulse, revealing that he obviously was not going to make it.

"He's got the smallest of a pulse. I'm afraid he won't make it, but another minute." one of the ambulance men said. Only a minute was all Soubi needed. He took Ritsuka's hand carefully.

"Ritsuka..." his voice was cracked, "I know...I know that you can really understand me. B-but I want to apologize...I want to apologize because I promised you I wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you again. But...here you are...dying...right in front of my eyes. And I can do nothing about it. I'm so, so sorry." They felt of his pulse once more.

"It just stopped." they gave Soubi a sympathetic look, but no looks could help the pain, the agonizing piercing pain that he was feeling at this moment. No one could bring his Ritsuka back...

_Everyone's looking at me. I'm running around in circles, baby. A quiet desperation's building higher, I've got to remember this is just a game. It's a beautiful lie, it's a perfect denial. Such a beautiful lie to believe in. So beautiful, beautiful...

* * *

_

DX Yea, it's the end people. I cried writing it. Please review and tell me what you thought of it. And plase don't hate me for killing him off... 


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